


Red Samurai Part 2: Demonkind

by Spunky0ne



Series: Red Samurai [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Demonkind, M/M, Red Samurai
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-24
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2017-11-08 10:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/442052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spunky0ne/pseuds/Spunky0ne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Attacked by a dying spirit demon, Renji becomes a demon, himself, then abducts Byakuya as his family tries to find a way to save him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beauty at Dawn

Renji flinched, groaned uncomfortably in his sleep and stirred restlessly, disturbing the stillness of early morning and waking the lovely, naked man who laid next to him. Byakuya lifted his head and peeked sleepily at his husband through a tumble of silken black hair, then rested a hand on Renji's pregnant abdomen and curled calming reiatsu around the developing baby inside him.

"Ugh..." groaned Renji, "Bya...I don't feel so good."

The noble gave him a light kiss on the forehead and searched around beneath the blankets until he found his abandoned yukata. He set it back in place, then slid out of bed and began to sort Renji's clothing out as well.

"Um, wha...why you doing that?" Renji muttered, catching his breath at the pain that radiated through his midsection, "It's probably just more of those...ugh...oh! Oh, ****, that hurts!"

Byakuya sat on the edge of the bed, holding Renji's hand and curling an arm around him.

"You are really in labor this time," Byakuya said softly.

"Oh..." Renji panted, "Oh really. Yeah...I just...thought that I was getting...ripped apart by hollows...or w-worse...demons!"

"You've been reading too many of those interactive histories in the king's archive, ne?" Byakuya said, quietly signaling their attendants to go for a healer.

"Y-yeah, Dad's had me...in there...r-researching every k-kinda scary bad thing in existence...g-getting ready, y'know?"

"Yes," said Byakuya calmly, "There is a lot you will need to know to act as the king's samurai, when the time comes."

"Y-yeah?" Renji chuckled weakly, grabbing his belly and groaning again, "He may have to retire s-soon. From what I hear, your cousin h-hasn't given in to him yet, but they...are to...gether all the time. I think it won't be long before...OW!"

Byakuya rubbed Renji's abdomen soothingly and squeezed his hand.

"Tetsuya has admitted to me that your father is very determined. But even if he does wear down my cousin's defenses, I do not believe that it will require Katsuro to leave the king's service."

"Hah..." panted Renji, "I w-was kidding! I just meant that a young guy like Tetsuya is..."

"I know what you meant," said Byakuya, shaking his head.

He started to say more, but broke off as Tetsuya flash stepped into the room, still looking half asleep, dressed in a yukata that Renji knew he had seen his father wear before, his wavy hair still mussed and his cheeks slightly flushed. Renji rolled his eyes in amusement and gave a short, pained laugh as Katsuro arrived a step behind Tetsuya, looking rather more composed, but no more dressed than his lovely friend.

"H-hey, Tetsuya," Renji managed, "Sorry to wake you guys..."

"I only just left the healing center about an hour ago," said Tetsuya, glancing at Katsuro for a moment, "Your father was just...helping me wind down a bit after work."

"Yes," Katsuro agreed, "Just a gentle massage. It was all mostly very proper."

The flush on Tetsuya's cheeks deepened. He shook his head and placed his hands on Renji's abdomen, his blue eyes glowing softly as he invoked his healing powers.

"It is good you called for me."

"Is everything all right?" Byakuya asked quickly.

"Everything is fine," Tetsuya assured him, "But I hope you have a name prepared, because this baby is ready to join us."

"Shouldn't we move him to the healing center?" asked Katsuro.

Tetsuya shook his head.

"No time," he explained, "The area, here, over the reiatsu cluster has lost almost enough consistency for the baby to pass through. I am going to test it once, then deliver the child."

He glanced at Renji's flushed face and smiled encouragingly.

"Would you like a pain block before the birth?" he asked, "I will make sure it does not make you lose consciousness."

"Oh...hah, yeah," panted Renji, "No pain is good...give me that...b-but, I don't wanna miss..."

"You won't," Tetsuya promised, "And I assume you prefer a kido method to a needle, ne?"

"Yeah...oh yeah!" agreed Renji, blanching at the thought of a needle, "I'd pass out for sure and miss everything, just seeing one of those damned things!"

"Really, Abarai," sighed Byakuya, smiling and shaking his head.

"Very well," Tetsuya said, smiling kindly and sending a gentle throb of kido through the redhead's shaky body, "Take a slow, deep breath and let it out again very slowly."

Renji took a couple more panting breaths, then inhaled slowly, with Byakuya stroking his hand gently and breathing with him. Tetsuya loosed a swirl of reiatsu into Renji's body and let it curl around the baby's reiatsu. He lowered his head slightly, focusing deeply, then applied slowly increasing pressure.

"Breathe out now," he instructed the redhead.

Renji and Byakuya breathed out slowly, together as Tetsuya attempted to move the reiatsu cluster.

"Easy," the healer said quietly, "I am going to let go of it."

Renji gave a sigh of relief and fell back to panting softly as Tetsuya's power abated.

"The cluster is fully matured and has separated from you inside. The next time, it should emerge. Are you ready to have this baby, Renji?"

"Ah...hah, hell no!" Renji laughed, "But it doesn't seem like I have much choice now, so let's go for it, ne Tetsuya?"

"Such a sharp wit amidst such discomfort," said Tetsuya, glancing up at Katsuro, "You must be an Akabuke."

"You know it," Renji said proudly.

Katsuro smirked and gave Tetsuya a wink.

"All right, you two. Enough of that," Renji huffed, "I'm having a baby here. This is no time for you to be flirting!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Katsuro, shrugging.

"Okay, Renji," said Tetsuya, "Take another deep, slow breath and let it out just like you did before."

Tetsuya sent his reiatsu into Renji's abdomen again, curling it around the baby's reiatsu and waiting as Renji took a few last panting breaths. Then, the redhead breathed in, paced carefully by Byakuya. As he began to breathe out, Tetsuya applied pressure, carefully coaxing the baby's reiatsu upward, guiding it gently in it's path as it worked its way through the weakened section of Renji's abdominal wall, and out to where it settled in Tetsuya's waiting hands. He set the glowing cluster in Renji's waiting arms, and Byakuya and Katsuro leaned closer, watching with brightly lit eyes as the glow around the baby slowly began to fade, and the cluster shimmered and took on a humanoid form. As the baby's features began to emerge, the men watching, caught their breath happily.

The baby squawked unhappily and began to cry, as his skin remained a glowing pale color and his wet eyes shined a pretty red-brown. The strands of his black hair ended in red tips that looked like tiny flames and his delicate looking fingers and toes had pearly nails like Byakuya's. The first light of dawn broke through the open balcony doors, and, touched by the light, the boy ceased his crying and touched Renji's smiling face with an outstretched hand.

"Oh my god, Byakuya!" Renji said, grinning widely, "I can't believe something so cute just came out of me!"

"He is...beautiful," Katsuro said in an unusually soft tone.

Renji caught his eye and reached out to touch his hand.

"Dad," he said quietly, "I want to know if it's okay with you, for me to call him Akemi. He was born at dawn...and he is..."

"Beautiful," Katsuro finished, gazing with adoring eyes down at his grandson.

"I won't if it makes you uncomfortable," Renji went on.

"It doesn't make me uncomfortable," said Katsuro, feeling a gentle twinge inside as he felt Tetsuya's eyes come to rest on him, "I think it's very fitting."

"Akemi," said Byakuya, looking into their baby's eyes, "Beauty of dawn, welcome."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kazuki flash stepped into a widened portion of the forest trail he was exploring, then stopped and examined the signs carefully. Another flash step sounded and Akabuke appeared beside him. Kazuki nodded briefly.

"It is as we thought," he said quietly, "There were two that came along this trail...the one I banished and one more."

"Can you see if he came back this way?" asked Akabuke, studying the trees as his mate performed a quick search of the area.

"He did not return this way."

"And we did not sense him after you killed the other," added the samurai.

"Which means," said Kazuki, "that either he had a way to leave the area unnoticed, or...he is concealing himself somewhere nearby."

"Lord Akabuke? Lord Kazuki?" called a youthful male voice.

"This way, Hiro," called Kazuki.

He watched as the messenger approached and shook his head unhappily.

"You should not have come unescorted into this area. There may still be a strong spirit demon about. And in addition to attacking our livestock, it might just have jumped at the chance to attack you."

"My apologies, sir," said the youth, "We hadn't been informed of this."

"You hadn't?" said Akabuke, frowning, "But we sent three men back to the palace together an hour ago."

Hiro's eyes widened.

"Sirs, to my knowledge, they never arrived. I was with the king until he sent me to find you. You have a new great grandson!"

"That is wonderful news," said Kazuki, exchanging pleased smiles with his mate, "But let us escort you back to the palace. We will make certain that word reaches the king of what has happened, and then we will join our family."

"Yes sir!" Hiro said, falling in with them.

The three flash stepped together, down the trail that the returning group had taken on their return to the palace. 

"I feel the leavings of their reiatsu in this area," said Kazuki, "They got at least this far."

They continued on, their eyes looking into the depths of the forest on either side of the trail and their senses extended. They were more than halfway to the palace, when Akabuke skidded to a halt, his sword coming out of its sheath, and his eyes scanning the area. Kazuki pulled the young messenger close and placed his back to one of the trees, drawing his blade and calling down a star to light the area brightly. Akabuke's eyes continued to pore over the area, looking low to the ground and up in the branches until he caught sight of something tangled in the trees, a distance off.

"Remain here," he told them softly, as he left the trail.

They watched as he followed the light of Kazuki's spell into the trees and found the one that had piqued his interest. He studied what he had seen from a distance, and marked the area with a kido barrier, then returned to the two who waited.

"Our men's trail ends here," Kazuki said softly, as Akabuke returned, wearing an angry expression.

"I found them in the trees, what was left of them. It killed them, but it did not devour them."

"Meaning that the attack was not for feeding," said Kazuki, "This beast has intelligence. And it had some other intent."

"I sealed the remains so that a fully provisioned team can find and examine the area, but I could not determine from the feeding site, which direction the demon went. But I think it safe to say that warnings are warranted, and great caution should be used until we know what the intent was."

"Come, Hiro," Kazuki said, releasing the youth he had been protecting, "We should get back as quickly as possible to make sure that all future patrols are notified of what happened."

The three flash stepped away together, heading back in the direction of the castle. Behind them, the demon waited, concealed far back in the trees, until the men had gone, and the forest was quiet again. It stole back to the barrier that Akabuke had erected and studied it with black, hateful eyes, then extended its tongue and lightly tasted the golden shield.

"Y-yesss," it hissed softly, "Your mate killed mine, so I will kill you...tattooed man."

It made sure that it was alone, then slashed at the barrier, breaking it apart. It descended on its interrupted meal and devoured the rest of the mangled bodies, then carefully concealed the signs. Afterward, it returned to the trail, where it had attacked the three men, and sniffed out the samurai's scent. Angry eyes glittering wickedly, it followed Akabuke's steps back towards the palace.

"You will pay!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Come now, Tetsuya," said Katsuro, sliding a hand into the younger man's, "Renji and the baby are both fine. They are getting some sleep, and after being up all night working, then delivering my son's child, you need some sleep as well."

"I will sleep," said Tetsuya, "But Arashi and I have not been able to train as much as we should, and you know that I am trying to qualify to join the king's norite."

"Which you will do a lot better after you have rested."

"He is right, watashi no itoko," Byakuya said, his eyes weary, but bright as he rested next to Renji.

"Come with me," said Katsuro, "I know just the thing to help you relax."

"But I..."

He made a sound of surprise as Katsuro swept him off his feet and carried him out the balcony doors, over the railing, and sailing down into the king's gardens. He angled towards the healing pool and slowed as he reached it. He set the exhausted healer down and set a privacy barrier in place, then turned and looked down into Tetsuya's weary blue eyes.

"I thought you wanted me to sleep," he said, glancing at the healing pool, then back at Katsuro.

"I do," said the samurai, "And you will. Now, I will have to ask you to trust me. Remove your clothes."

Tetsuya froze, his heart pounding. He swallowed hard, a blush rising on his skin and his body trembling softly.

"Trust me," Katsuro said again, letting his own clothing fall away to reveal his well sculpted, tanned and tattooed flesh.

The sight of him left Tetsuya dry-mouthed and breathless. He tried to make his lips move, to make his voice sound, but could only stare helplessly at the beautiful samurai's enchantingly marked form.

_Why is this happening? I can fight the fiercest of hollows and plunge headlong into battle without hesitation, but the moment I see him, I freeze like a deer. What is...wrong with me?_

He stood perfectly still, looking up into Katsuro's warm, red-brown eyes and thinking the words he could not say.

_I trust you._

And as though he had heard, Katsuro smiled more widely and stepped forward, then slowly removed the yukata that he had loaned the younger man when the massage he had hesitantly consented to had been interrupted. He kept his eyes locked on Tetsuya's and only observed out of the corners of his eyes just how beautiful Tetsuya's body was. 

Pale and softly glowing...flawless skin, silken black hair that fell in unruly waves to his shoulders, wide, sapphire eyes and a lovely, guileless face. His body was slender without being overly thin and every curve and line of face, breast, back, bottom and thigh was delicately drawn. 

"Come into the water," Katsuro said, taking his hands and coaxing him forward.

He guided the younger man out through the warm water and to the gentle falls, where Katsuro stopped him and sat down, then positioned Tetsuya between his opened thighs. Tetsuya shivered as he settled his back against the samurai's tattooed chest and felt the man's warm, flaccid member touch his lower back. He closed his eyes and turned his head so that he could just hear the steady beating of Katsuro's heart. The samurai's hands moved, first gathering the soothing healing water and gently bathing his exposed skin, honoring the curves of his body with reverent fingertips and resting his chin lightly on top of Tetsuya's head.

Tetsuya's eyes opened again to see the hypnotic dance of tattoos, to follow them down over the samurai's tanned breast, along his torso to where they disappeared into the water. He wanted to see more...to see them all again...as he had for a moment when Katsuro had stood naked in front of him and undressed him.

"Let everything go," whispered Katsuro, "All of your cares, all of the day's tensions, everything that holds you back from peaceful rest. Let the water soothe everything away. Be at peace."

And when he did let go, the peace swept over him in a lovely warm wave, casting everything away and leaving him sleeping soundly in Katsuro's arms. The samurai remained in the water for some time, stroking his soft, wet hair and lightly tracing the curved of his face with gentle fingertips. He waited until he was sure the younger man was sleeping deeply, then used a soft throb of kido to ensure he would not wake when he was moved. He lifted Tetsuya's pliant body out of the water, dried the both of them off, then dressed them, before lifting the younger man into his arms and carrying him back into the palace, and to his bedroom. He set Tetsuya in his bed and turned to go, but was stunned when he heard two soft words rise up behind him.

"Don't go..."

His eyes were barely opened and he had to be nearly senseless.

But that, Katsuro thought, is when the heart speaks most clearly.

Smiling, he slid into the bed next to Tetsuya, catching his breath as the lovely young shinigami turned into his arms and settled again. Resting his face against Tetsuya's, he drifted off to sleep.

Out in the gardens, the demon gazed hatefully at the healing pool from within the nearby bushes. He had wanted to attack the two men that had come there, the pale, black haired noble that smelled suspiciously like the one that had slain his mate, and the larger, tattooed man. But the gardens were too well guarded during the day, and the shinigami and his mate were strong. He would have to sneak up on them...perhaps lure them out into the forest...

The beast sensed the spirit king nearby and slipped deeper into the gardens to wait for nightfall.


	2. The Rending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuya competes in the Norite trials, but is viciously attacked as he waits for Katsuro afterwards.

The demon knelt in a cluster of bushes, watching as the blue-eyed shinigami who had killed his mate appeared on the balcony outside the bedroom he shared with the tattooed samurai. As expected, he was followed a moment later by his handsome, tattooed mate, who curled his arms around the slender, black-haired man and ran kisses up the side of his throat.

"You're up with the sunrise, as usual, I see," Akabuke purred softly, licking his mate's earlobe.

A smiling Kazuki started to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden commotion two balconies over.

"How could you do that?!" hissed an obviously agitated Tetsuya, "You know how much flack I'm taking because half the people attempting to gain entrance into the Norite think I'm sleeping with you to earn a placement!"

He covered his face with his slender hands, rubbing his temples to stem the headache brought on by just imagining what people would think.

"You worry too much," Katsuro sliding his arms around the younger man and seeking his lips, "No one believes you're trying to sleep your way onto the norite. I can tell them with complete certainty that you're still a virgin."

"Ugh, stop!"

"Everyone knows you are already the highest rated candidate, Tetsuya. You've got more power in that pretty little sword of yours than most of them will ever dream of having. And besides, you can't be angry at me for spending the night curled up with you when you, yourself, invited me."

"We've been over this already!" Tetsuya said in an exasperated voice, "I don't remember inviting you to stay!"

"You were half asleep, I admit, but how was I supposed to know whether to stay or not? You invited me, and I wanted to stay. Besides, if you had really meant it, wouldn't you have felt insulted if you asked me to stay and I refused?"

"Lord Katsuro..."

"I told you to stop calling me that when we're alone."

"We shouldn't be alone right now. I am supposed to be preparing for the trials this morning! Now, please, go! I won't be ready in time."

"You'll be ready in plenty of time," Katsuro said bracingly, "And you're going to knock the socks off the judges. You and Arashi are amazing."

The honest emotion in the samurai's eyes left Tetsuya speechless for a moment. He looked helplessly into Katsuro's eyes, his own softening and his cheeks flushing. He bit at his lips and tried to think of something to say, but was suddenly pushed back against the railing, his mouth gently invaded and the samurai's fingers sinking into his hair. After a few penetrating kisses, Tetsuya sagged against him, unable to hold back from kissing the beautiful samurai with equal desire.

"Go ahead, then," he sighed in capitulation, letting his forehead fall forward until it touched Katsuro's muscular chest, "stay. Forget the trials. I won't be able to concentrate now, anyway."

Katsuro slid a hand beneath Tetsuya's chin and looked down into his eyes, smiling warmly.

"You will be fine. I will go now. And I will try not to be too terribly conspicuous during the trials."

"Thank you," Tetsuya said, shaking his head in resignation, "Though I don't know what good it will do now, as everyone's minds are made up."

"Then, you won't mind if I give you a congratulatory kiss when you place first, with honors?"

"Get out of here!" Tetsuya said, fighting a smile and pushing him away.

"No goodbye kiss, love?" Katsuro said, seductively.

Tetsuya's eyes narrowed for a moment, and he exchanged a glance with Arashi, who had appeared on the grass below them. Arashi nodded and stood ready as Tetsuya moved forward and sank deeply into his mouth one last time.

"Oh," sighed Katsuro, as Tetsuya stepped back into the doorway, "How am I supposed to leave now? Do you have any idea how good you taste? How beautiful you are? I don't think that I can make myself go."

Tetsuya smirked.

"I rather thought you would feel that way," he said, closing the balcony doors between them.

A moment later, Arashi's reiatsu swelled around him and he loosed a huge blast of water at the samurai, who still stood facing the door. Katsuro sensed the sneak attack at the last moment and flash stepped clear, landing lightly on the rail of another balcony and glaring, as Arashi loosed a horse laugh, tossing his head and stamping in challenge. Katsuro narrowed his eyes and started to speak, but was interrupted as Byakuya and Renji's balcony doors opened, and the latter, in his agitated red tiger form, burst out of the room, growling.

"I told you to be quiet, you pain in the ass!" he snarled at Arashi, "You woke the kids again! Now, you're gonna pay! I am so going to eat you when I catch up with you!"

Arashi squealed and turned as Renji's tiger form leapt nimbly off the balcony and came down on the grass. Then, the spooked horse broke into a run and headed for the forested area of the king's garden's with Renji in hot pursuit. Up on the balcony, Kazuki and Akabuke watched in amusement as the lovely red tiger raced after the retreating stallion.

"I should go and give Byakuya a hand with the babies," said Kazuki, hopping up onto the railing and flash stepping to the next balcony.

Akabuke nodded and stood waiting on his balcony as Katsuro moved to join him.

"Good morning, Father," Katsuro said, smiling and accepting a warm embrace from the elder Akabuke.

"Good morning," answered the elder samurai, "I see your relationship with that handsome young Kuchiki cousin appears to be going as expected."

"Hah, yes," Katsuro laughed, "Tetsuya's a spirited one, but I'll have him eating out of my hand in no time."

"It looks like it," Akabuke said, with a light note of sarcasm, "He looked completely charmed, right up until he had his horse try to give you an unexpected shower. I do hope you weren't too offensive."

"No, no, not at all. We just...had a little misunderstanding. We're fine, really. We even have a date at the healing pool tonight, after the trials. He'll need to let down and relax after that."

"And I'm sure that you'll be right there to help," said Akabuke proudly, "I could give you some ideas for..."

"Erm, no, that's just fine," laughed Katsuro, "I think I can manage him well enough on my own. We should go and say good morning to Byakuya and the babies."

The two walked into Akabuke's bedroom and down the hall to the next room, where they found Kazuki and Byakuya sitting side by side on the bed, feeding the two babies and talking quietly. Katsumi caught sight of the two tattooed men and broke away from the bottle Byakuya was holding to squawk at them, and reached out with a questing hand.

"Gah!" she yelled, happily.

"That's my samurai girl," Katsuro said proudly, accepting the baby from Byakuya, then coaxing her into eating while she gurgled at him and grabbed at his long, red ponytail.

"Arigato," Byakuya said gratefully, "I need to get ready for the trials. Renji and I promised Tetsuya we would be there, but we seem to always be running out of time."

"That happens when children come along," Akabuke said, admiring Kazuki as he leaned forward to kiss Akemi on the forehead, "but they are a lot of fun, aside from the noise and the enormous amount of excrement and vomit they produce."

"Eh, you told me you left that to the attendants and focused on teaching us the more important things like hunting, fishing, tracking and catching a lovely mate," said Katsuro, smirking.

"That, I did," chuckled the samurai, "It was necessary, considering that I had no mate by then, and babies just don't seem to understand 'Daddy has to go to work for the king.' It was difficult sometimes, but, you see, Katsuro turned out all right, ne?"

"Well..." said Byakuya, raising an eyebrow.

He broke off as Renji leapt onto the balcony and swept into the room, knocking his pretty mate to the floor and licking his face and throat, while Byakuya glared up at him in annoyance.

"Abarai, stop that at once! We have company, and we will be late for the norite trials!"

"Ngh," muttered the redhead, licking his cheek a final time, then shifting back to samurai form, "I was just having a snack. I was hungry after chasing your cousin's damned horse all over the king's gardens."

"You're ridiculous!" snapped the noble, "Hurry and get dressed. We have to go."

"What about the children?" asked Kazuki.

"Oh," said Renji, "Torio and Koji are sharing kid duty today so we can actually get to watch Tetsuya compete."

"I've seen him working with Arashi," said Kazuki, "He is certainly a force to be reckoned with. It belies the gentle person he seems to be the rest of the time."

"I wonder if I should be flattered that he has no problem expressing his more aggressive side to me," chuckled Katsuro.

"You are an Akabuke," commented Byakuya, picking himself up off the floor and hastily straightening his clothes, "You naturally bring out the aggressive side of any self-respecting member of the Kuchiki clan."

"I'm afraid I must plead guilty to that," admitted Katsuro, "But I do make up for my mischief with affection and loyalty. I am not all rogue."

"No," said Byakuya, "Just mostly."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya sat quietly astride Arashi, who remained still as a stone and fully focused. He was deeply aware of the importance of the trials to his master, and to himself, so he waited patiently as all of the mounted applicants gathered. The group was set into pairs for the first event, a speed course.

"Looks like you and I are competing against each other," said a condescending voice, "I guess they want to see if you're really that good or if it's just that red-haired samurai you've been riding that's been making the king favor you."

Tetsuya neither looked up, nor argued.

"Good luck to you, Saburo," he said quietly, turning Arashi towards the starting line.

He felt Katsuro's eyes on him and could see, using his peripheral vision, that he sat in the viewing stands near the king, and seated with Akabuke, Kazuki, Byakuya and Renji. It was easier to ignore his competitor once Saburo took his place a short distance to the side.

_Remember, Arashi, Tetsuya reminded the stallion, be aware of his movements, but do not let him distract you. Speed counts._

_Yes, Master._

The starting gun cracked and Arashi flew forward, bursting into a sprint and breaking out ahead of the other competitor. Katsuro smiled as the black stallion turned and maneuvered around obstacles, made his jumps easily and did not balk at anything he was asked to do. Saburo, too, worked quickly through the course, his horse turning and jumping with practiced ease. They stretched out running side by side, blue reiatsu glowing all around Tetsuya and set against Saburo's more purplish aura. they reached the critical part of the course, a blind jump that had to be taken without the horse being able to see the landing until he was in the air. Arashi took the jump boldly, trusting Tetsuya's judgment completely and coming down in flash steps to the final sprint. Saburo landed just behind him and whipped his mount into his fastest run. Arashi's long legs stretched out, moving in a blur below the powerful stallion. Tetsuya lowered himself against the stallion's back and urged him on with his voice and a touch of his heel when Saburo moved closer to them. They finished one, two, in a blaze of flash steps and both horses dropped to a trot, then to a cooling walk as the next pair moved to the starting line.

"Congratulations," Saburo said quietly, "I guess that extra training beneath the samurai is really working for you."

Tetsuya ignored him and slid down off of Arashi's back. He caught his breath in surprise as Saburo's horse suddenly shied and blundered up against Arashi, nearly crushing Tetsuya between them, and catching the noble's arm as he flash stepped clear.

"You all right?" asked Saburo, "Sorry about that. Must have been spooked by a bird."

"Or a rat!" Tetsuya hissed under his breath, holding his injured arm and wincing, as the other young man moved away.

_Are you all right, Master?_

_I am fine. I won't let him get to me._

He climbed back onto Arashi's back and walked him at the edges of the arena.

"Are you all right?" asked Katsuro, speaking to Tetsuya from behind a cluster of bushes, "Your arm is bleeding. I saw that cocky little bastard nearly run you down."

"I am fine," whispered Tetsuya, "It isn't as bad as it looks."

He paused for a moment, fighting a smile.

"Go back to the stands."

"At least let me heal you," insisted the samurai, "You don't want him to gain an advantage through stealth and dishonesty."

"Sometimes life is not fair," Tetsuya said quietly, "We must fight anyway, on our own terms. I will not let his immature act affect me."

"But your arm might be broken."

"Then, I will see a healer when I am finished here."

Katsuro considered his words for a moment, then nodded.

"As you will, then," he said calmly, "And after you wipe the ground with that guy and win your placement with the norite, I will meet you at the healing pool. Does that meet with your approval, my stubborn young friend?"

Tetsuya smiled.

"The last event is a knock out tournament," he said quietly, "I will unhorse Saburo before another rider falls."

Katsuro laughed and flash stepped away, leaving Tetsuya walking his cooling mount.

The rest of the afternoon went quickly, and Tetsuya was relieved not to have to compete with Saburo again. By the time they gathered for the knockout melee, Tetsuya and Saburo were tied in total points and both ranked first in their separate divisions. Tetsuya's arm continued to ache and throb, but he ignored the pain and threw all of his focus into preparing for the last event. When the gate opened to admit them into the arena, he breathed a soft command to his zanpakutou and set several waterforms. He saw Saburo positioning himself far from Tetsuya, hoping to unhorse as many opponents as he could to score additional points. The most points, Tetsuya knew, would come from taking out one of the top seeds, so he would be sought by others wanting to attack him. But he set his mind on Saburo and positioned himself so that it looked as though he was using the same strategy as his opponent. A smile came to his lips as Saburo settled his mount near where one of Tetsuya's waterforms. He waited breathlessly as the clock counted down, then, as soon as the start signal sounded, he shifted to the waterform nearest Saburo and ran Arashi up against his mount, loosing a blast of kido and sending the other young man flying out of the saddle. He crashed down into a puddle of horse urine, stunned at having been eliminated so quickly. Tetsuya glanced down at him and inclined his head.

"Rough bit of luck, there. Maybe next time," he said, turning away.

"BASTARD!" yelled Saburo, coming to his feet.

He flash stepped forward, drawing his weapon and slashing at Tetsuya, but when he connected, the horse and rider only turned to water and splashed to the ground. Then, Tetsuya and Arashi appeared a short distance away.

"Number fifteen!" said a voice on the loudspeaker, "You have been unhorsed. Please exit the arena immediately!"

Saburo glared at Tetsuya and stomped out the exits, muttering furiously. The blue-eyed shinigami took his time working at the other riders, crossing swords with some and unhorsing others until the time elapsed and a bell rang loudly, ending the match. He started to exit the arena with the others, when he realized that the people in the stands were on their feet and applauding. The faces of his relatives were wreathed in smiles, and Katsuro's eyes gazed down at him with pride and respect.

"The highest scoring competitor in the Norite trials, and the shinigami winning the king's commendation is Tetsuya Kuchiki. Please show him, and all of our competitors your appreciation!"

Tetsuya looked up at Katsuro one more time as thunderous applause filled the arena and Arashi danced nervously beneath him.

"Do not forget," mouthed Katsuro, "The healing pool. Thirty minutes."

Tetsuya nodded imperceptibly, then exited the arena and followed the other riders into the stables. He turned Arashi over to the groom and walked back to the palace, unaware of being followed by a dour looking Saburo.

And neither noticed the demon who followed both.

_So, my mate's killer is family with these samurai. And he is kin to the other two who look and smell like him. I will kill them, then...one by one. One by one until he stands alone. Then, I will look him in the eyes and tell him why they died...and dig his heart out of his chest with my talons!_

He watched as Tetsuya returned to his room to shower, and as the others in the family group adjourned to their rooms. He waited to see who would be the first to emerge, the first to walk alone...the first to die...

_XXXXXXXXXX_

Tetsuya exited the baths to find a message from the stables.

_Your mount, Arashi, has lost a shoe and is being seen to now. Please note, he will be unavailable for riding until morning._

"It's a good thing we are done competing," Tetsuya muttered, going to his closet and choosing a two-tone blue yukata to wear to the healing pool.

He turned to his attendant.

"That will be all for the night. Arigato."

"Yes, Master Tetsuya...oh! I mean, Tetsuya Norite!"

Tetsuya smiled at the new title. He watched the attendant go, then walked to his balcony and flash stepped down to the grass. He walked quietly towards the part of the garden that housed the king's healing pool, his mind replaying the day's events and thinking about his plans for the night.

I have resisted him for months, but the truth is, my heart was just waiting for the right time. And now that I have earned my own title, here at court, I feel more ready...more worthy of him. He is a great man...powerful, beautiful and wonderfully strong. And now, I feel that I have something to offer that great man...something more worthy.

He paused as he reached the healing pool, looking down into the water and seeing the reflection of that much more worthy person. No longer held back by prejudice...freed to show his full strength, Tetsuya was finally ready to embrace the man he loved, wholeheartedly.

He was startled out of his reverie by a rustling of leaves and a clipped cry. He turned towards the bushes and peeked through to the other side, catching his breath in horror at what he saw. Saburo laid on the ground in a pool of blood, his lifeless eyes open and staring, his mouth opened into a silent scream.

Tetsuya covered his mouth and backed away, beginning to summon his blade. As he broke free of the bushes, something large, black and wiry burst from the bushes and slashed at him. He brought Re-kuhime up in defense, swiftly beginning his shikai release.

T-too fast! his mind screamed as the beast's claw came down on Tetsuya's sword.

He cried out in surprise and fear as his blade shattered under the pressures of surprise and the intensity of the sudden attack. The demon's claws raked across his chest, turning his body and dragging a hard scream from his throat. Something sank deep into his back, and he tasted blood in his mouth. the beast grabbed his hair and hissed something in his ear then brought its claw to his throat. Tetsuya's hands rose in defense, but the claw tore across his throat, silencing his cries and making him collapse forward into the healing pool. He landed facedown and went still, leaving the demon to watch for a moment as the young man's blood blossomed around him. It backed into the brush as the palace alarms began to sound and it heard guards approaching. Satisfied the young man was dead, it melted into the brush and disappeared.

Katsuro appeared at the edge of the pool and slid to a stop, staring in shock at the bloodied body in the water, unable to believe his eyes. But Re-kuhime laid broken on the ground, and the body was clad in a yukata that he had seen the young man wear before. The samurai staggered into the water as the guards filled the area.

"Get the king's healer!" he shouted at them, "Hurry! He's alive, but barely!"

He dropped onto his knees in the water and turned Tetsuya over. The wounds he found were shocking, but, to his relief, the healing waters had kept them from ending Tetsuya's life, then and there. But time mattered...and time was passing. He pulled the young noble close, holding him tightly to his chest and talking into his ear.

"You're going to be all right. You're going to be all right. Just stay with me, Tetsuya. Don't go..."

Tetsuya's body quivered, and his wide, blue eyes opened and met Katsuro's. His voice made useless, he mouthed a word that sent a shock wave through the samurai who held him.

Demon...


	3. Loving Recklessly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katsuro takes a desperate risk to keep Tetsuya from dying.

Byakuya leaned into Renji's strong embrace, his heart aching as he waited breathlessly for word on his injured cousin. The redhead's fiery eyes flicked about, glaring as though wanting to set something on fire with the intensity of the emotion he was feeling. Akabuke and Kazuki sat near them, the fingers of their hands entwined and their eyes worried.

"I know that Tetsuya was hurt really bad and needed surgery, but...it's been so damned long! They were in the healing pool for almost two hours..."

"They kept him there to stabilize him," Akabuke explained, "It was obvious that he had taken enormous damage."

"He would have died within moments, had he not happened to fall into the pool," Kazuki added, "But the waters in the pool held off his death and helped to close the most dangerous wounds. It eventually stabilized him enough for evacuation to the healing center. Yet, the surgery is needed to prevent permanent damage in the injured areas of Tetsuya's body."

"But what I don't understand," said Renji, glaring at the closed, white door to the private waiting area they were in, "is why when they finished and arrived here for the surgery, Dad was unconscious too!"

Byakuya met Renji's eyes, intense pain in his own.

"He probably had the same reaction to the thought of Tetsuya dying as you did when I began to fade during Katsumi's birth. He must have attempted something like what you did."

Akabuke and his mate exchanged glances, a mutual suspicion passing between them. But they seemed to decide it was best to hold back mentioning it until more was known. The door opened, and all four men looked up, unsure whether to feel reassured or fearful at the thought of word coming about Tetsuya. But the man who entered the room was not a healer.

"Grandfather," Byakuya said, his voice touched with a mixture of surprise and gratitude, "I had thought that as the royal guard was busy pursuing the demon, and you are the royal guard's captain, we might not be seeing you for some time."

"I knew that you would be comforted by these others," said Ginrei, "but there are few who fully understand your connection with Tetsuya. Having been with you, I remember the forces that bound your lives together."

He turned to Akabuke and Kazuki.

"Renji will likely have been told by Byakuya, but perhaps the two of you, being somewhat newly returned to us, do not know how my grandson and his cousin came to be so connected."

The two exchanged glances and shook their heads briefly. Ginrei looked questioningly at Byakuya, who nodded in relief at having the burden of explanation taken from him for the moment.

"Tetsuya's father, Takao, was my son, Soujun's first cousin...first cousin and best friend. They grew up at Kuchiki Manor together. Kazuki, you will understand, I think, the uproar that it used to cause whenever a noble professed love for a peasant. Takao fell in love with a woman, Kiko, of the Rukongai, and the two wanted very much to be married. Takao knew that the clan would punish them for their love, so Soujun helped his beloved cousin to hide out in the Rukongai. They were married and Kiko became pregnant with Tetsuya. The two were discovered by the clan and taken to a secret family prison, that was operating illegally in the Seireitei. I knew of its existence, but was unable to locate it. For many years, we heard no more of Takao or Kiko. After Soujun's death, Byakuya learned of the way that half-bloods had been treated, how many had disappeared, and that there was a hidden prison that might hold his father's cousin and his family. He searched endlessly until he discovered the location of the prison, and when we stormed it, he found that Takao had been executed, and Kiko had died later of illness. But he was able to find their son, Tetsuya. He brought the boy back to Kuchiki Manor and I allowed him to stay under the guise of being an attendant to Byakuya. Because clan rules would not allow Tetsuya to enter the military, he trained with Byakuya privately and developed his healing skills until he qualified to become a clan healer."

"But when he joined me in the spirit dimension," Byakuya added, "He began to see that things are different here. For the first time, people didn't look down on him for his mixed blood. And when Katsuro convinced him to apply for admission to the king's norite, it seemed as though finally...finally, he was going to win the respect he deserved for his abilities and his longtime devotion to our clan."

Renji smiled and kissed his mate lightly on the lips.

"Hey, you and I know he isn't half so protective of the clan as he is of the clan's leader."

The words coaxed a weary smile from the noble's lips.

"We are very close...as close as our fathers were."

His expression darkened.

"I want to know what is known about this demon," he went on. "Grandfather, what has the royal guard learned?"

Ginrei nodded.

"As you may have heard from Kazuki, yesterday, he killed a demon in the forest outside the palace grounds. He and Akabuke noted the presence of a second demon we suspect may be associated with the first, but they were not able to observe it. They sent a team of three men to inform the king, but the three never arrived at the palace."

"We found their bodies in the forest," said Akabuke, "and I set a barrier around them so that study could be done to fully identify the type and class of demon."

"However," Ginrei explained, "When I took my team into the forest, the barrier had been shattered, the bodies devoured, and this demon had carefully tried to conceal that any of it had been there. We were only able to find the clues upon deep reiatsu scanning of the area. We know it must be a high level demon of some kind, but we do not have the body of the first demon, as Kazuki was forced to banish it so that it would not regenerate. It seems to have that ability. But what other odd abilities it might have, we do not know. Our search teams continue to scour the area. We are having them work in teams of six to be more certain they can fight back if they are challenged. But this demon is proving extremely difficult to track. Even in the area around the healing pool, it seems to have had a way to hide its passage. Tetsuya and Saburo both proved out as 'highly capable' at sensing reiatsu and tracking, but both were taken by surprise and easily overcome...so quickly, it seems, that they had no time to summon their considerable powers."

"Akabuke and I also had trouble tracking the demon," admitted Kazuki.

"Despite my mate's considerable tracking ability," added the elder samurai.

"Katsuro inherited my tracking ability and so might be of use in the search," said Kazuki, "As soon as he is conscious, we will have him join us to assist. He will likely want very much to involve himself in finding the creature who attacked his...who attacked Tetsuya."

"I am afraid that your son is still unconscious, and I can give no ideas on when he will awaken," said the voice of the king's healer from the doorway.

He walked into the room and sat down amidst the gathered shinigamis. Byakuya leaned forward, his worried eyes meeting the weary eyes of the healer.

"How is my cousin?" he asked softly, "Is he...?"

"Tetsuya is still alive, but I must warn you, he is in very guarded condition. The only reason that your cousin is still with us, is because of his very fortunate landing in the healing pool. He received three critical injuries, two of them that would normally have been fatal. He was slashed across the chest, with enough force that several bones were shattered, the right side of his back was pierced, rupturing several major organs and damaging his spinal cord, and his throat was slashed. His initial fall into the pool caused an instant, lifesaving cauterizing of the wounds, so he did not bleed to death, and it forced him into a semi-conscious state so he would not feel so much pain and would be able to communicate to some extent. However, the damage to his throat left him unable to speak. That and the damage to his internal organs had to be healed through careful surgery. Detailed healing of that sort cannot be addressed by the healing pool itself. I was able to heal the damage to his internal organs and I did do what I could with the injuries to his throat and to his spinal cord. His internal organs are functioning acceptably now. But we won't know until the swelling goes down in his throat and back, whether those areas will heal fully. For now, we must wait."

"But he is going to live?" asked Renji.

"Yes...but what we do not know is if he will ever speak again...or if there might be some paralysis in his body. Those things, we will only know as the swelling goes down in his body and things become more clear."

"And what about my dad?" asked Renji, "He was unconscious, and you said you don't know when he'll wake up. What happened to him? Why did he pass out like that?"

The healer sighed.

"There is an ability related to the originating samurai's immortality," explained the healer, looking up at Akabuke, "When Akabuke sacrificed his immortality by sharing his life force with Kazuki, his immortality was shed...but the ability to use his own life force to bolster another was not lost. It is just that the consequences of doing so changed. Renji Abarai, when you sensed that Byakuya was dying and your soul reached out for his, I was able to observe something of that new ability. Because what you actually did was to invade Byakuya's dying inner world. You dove into that place and your samurai reiatsu stabilized it, and opened a connection to your own. You were able to bring Byakuya back because you and Byakuya now share inner worlds. I am sure that it has effects between you, but it will take time to discover what they all are. In any case, while Tetsuya was still in the pool and being stabilized, Katsuro entered his inner world, because by doing this, he could communicate with Tetsuya, as the damage to his body did not carry over into that place...and there, Tetsuya was able to speak. Katsuro was able to tell us that the demon was large, thin and leathery, that it had golden eyes and that it overcame him mostly because of its ability to conceal itself, and because of the speed with which it attacked. And he was able to tell us one more thing. He said that the demon spoke to him."

"What did it say?" asked Ginrei.

"The demon told Tetsuya, "You are the first. We know that he was not the first attacked. The three men Akabuke and Kazuki sent back to the palace to report to the king, and the other norite applicant that was killed, Saburo, were all killed before Tetsuya was attacked. It has some other meaning, which we have yet to discover. It may relate to his being the first half-blood norite...or it could have some other meaning. What is disturbing is the insinuation that there will be more killings. The royal family. the norite and the samurai line have been placed under heavy protection. The king is concerned that the beast penetrated the palace defenses and entered the king's gardens, unnoticed."

"And he should be concerned," said Akabuke, "This creature is stealthy, and it attacks swiftly and brutally. It must be found quickly."

"But you were explaining why Katsuro had not awakened," Kazuki said, turning the conversation back towards their son.

"Yes," said the healer, "While he was submerged in Tetsuya's inner world, that world began to decline. He communicated that there was a heavy storm, a sure sign of an inner world that is in danger of collapse. He did something. We aren't sure what, exactly. Tetsuya's inner world stabilized, as did his body, but both remained unconscious after that. Tetsuya, we understand...he is unconscious because his body is still repairing itself. But...we are not sure why Katsuro remains unconscious. What we do know is that Tetsuya declines whenever we try to separate the two. We have moved them to Katsuro's quarters. There was no need to keep them in the center, as there is little to do but monitor them, and I felt that familiar surroundings could give them something to latch onto to bring them back."

The room went quiet for several long minutes.

"Renji," Akabuke said finally, "My son was acting samurai until he was incapacitated. As he is no longer able to protect the king, either you or I must go immediately to his majesty and protect him from this threat."

Renji turned his head to look at Byakuya.

"I am not leaving Byakuya and our babies unguarded," he said quietly.

"Renji," said the noble, "I understand your feelings. However, you have a duty to his majesty. And besides, Akabuke, Kazuki and I will stay together, under guard."

"I had a different idea," said Akabuke, "I will guard his majesty. The children will remain under heavy protection, here at the palace. And the three of you will seek the demon and kill him."

Byakuya and Renji exchanged silent glances, considering.

"It does make sense," Byakuya said, after some thought, "First, because Akabuke is a fully trained samurai who has served the king before. And secondly, because Renji is likely to have stronger tracking skills because of his blood relation to Kazuki and Katsuro, both of whom excel in that area."

"But whatever protection the kids have had better be fullproof," Renji insisted, "We aren't taking any chances with them!"

"Nor do I think you should," said Akabuke, "That is why we will have your babies moved to the royal nursery and guarded along with the royal family."

"I will personally see that they are never left vulnerable," promised Ginrei.

Renji bit at his lips, looking into his mate's dark gray eyes and reading Byakuya's determination. He considered for a moment longer.

"We're in," he said quietly.

Akabuke nodded.

"We will convene a planning council in the morning and get this underway as quickly as possible. I think that we should make a brief visit to Katsuro, and tell him what we are about. He may be able to hear us...and he and Tetsuya need our encouragement."

"I agree," said Kazuki.

"I do also," said Byakuya.

"Me too," said Renji.

The shinigamis quickly gathered their belonging and separated, Ginrei to report to the king, while the others moved on to Katsuro's room. They paused at the doorway, then were led inside by the team of healers.

"They are still unconscious," said the lead healer in the group, "but they are coping well. We will leave you to visit, but we will be just outside the door."

"Arigato," said Kazuki.

They walked inside and paused, taking in the room's dark, but lovely blend of earthy red and dark brown tones, the strong feel of Katsuro's reiatsu and the sight of the samurai lying next to Tetsuya, the fingers of one large hand entwined with the younger man's more pale and slender ones. A dark red silk scarf bound their wrists gently together.

"What is this?" asked Byakuya.

"Oh," said the healer, "Once we realized that Tetsuya Norite's condition deteriorated upon his separation from Lord Katsuro, we bound their hands together, to encourage their connection. They have both remained stable ever since."

"That is good," said Akabuke, "Katsuro is lending Tetsuya his strength, and Tetsuya clings to it and continues to fight. It is right that he should be there for his mate, and that we should see to his royal duties while he is incapacitated. Let us make a vow..."

Byakuya took Tetsuya's free hand in his and placed his other hand in Renji's, and the redhead reached across the bed to take Akabuke's hand. Akabuke captured Kazuki's hand, and the elder Kuchiki held Katsuro's, completing the circle and wrapping the group in a sphere of lovely golden light as Akabuke stated their vow.

"We will protect his majesty, our loved ones, and all of the innocent ones," the samurai promised, "We will seek this demon and end his threat. We will not rest until this is done. When we have delivered upon our promises, we will heal the ones injured, and will give back what we can of what was taken. This is our promise, our solemn vow. We shall risk our lives and spill our blood to make it so!"

As he finished, thunder sounded outside the balcony doors, and the ones within the sphere of light could hear the rain begin to fall. The light pulsed brightly and swirled gently around them, then sank down into each, firming their resolve, joining their hearts and gathering their strength for the task ahead. As the light slowly faded, each of the four bent to kiss Katsuro and Tetsuya, then left the two under the care of their healers. They returned, then, their own rooms, to share the last hours before the undertaking of their missions.

Deep within Tetsuya's stormy inner world, Katsuro held the younger man tightly and wrapped his cloak around him. He used his power to protect them from the howling wind and driving rain, and placed gentle kisses on Tetsuya's face and neck, whispering soft words of encouragement. Lightning flashed, and Akabuke's voice broke through suddenly. And for the first time in what seemed like ages, Tetsuya stirred in Katsuro's arms, his eyes blinking open and looking up at Katsuro questioningly.

"What was that?" Tetsuya asked softly.

"That was a promise," whispered Katsuro, warming Tetsuya's wet lips with kisses, "And if we are to do our part, you must rest and regain enough strength to go back. Rest for now. Build your strength. Everything will be all right."

"Katsuro," whispered Tetsuya, "How did you find me?"

"You go nowhere that I will not follow," breathed the samurai against the younger man's lips, "And you take no path that I cannot traverse. Our hearts are bound, our souls entwined. Look, Tetsuya. See where our worlds have collided!"

Lightning flashed again, lighting Tetsuya's darkened world that had somehow locked together with the Katsuro's more fiery sunset dominated world. The young noble's eyes widened in distress as realization passed through him. His heart pounded and his head spun wildly.

"Why?" he half sobbed, "Why did you do this? With our worlds entwined, if I should die, then you will die too! Why would you do this? Why?"

Katsuro's lovely red-brown eyes held his steadily. Tetsuya's disturbed reiatsu made the lightning crack across the sky again, and the thunder shake the ground. The rain came down harder and Tetsuya beat his curled fists against the samurai.

"You are the king's samurai!" he cried, "You can't throw your life away on a whim! What about your promises to the king? Do they mean nothing to you?"

"I assure you," Katsuro said with deep calm in his voice, his hands wrapping around Tetsuya's wrists and holding them still, "I have no intention of abandoning my king. But neither will I let love slip away from me."

He glared into Tetsuya's shocked eyes, his own flaring with the fiery sunset of his own inner world.

"I love you, Tetsuya Kuchiki, and I am not letting you leave me! So you had best give everything to staying."

His lips quirked into a crooked smile.

"You wouldn't want to make a liar out of me?" he asked, chuckling as Tetsuya struggled in his arms and spit out angry utterances alluding to his recklessness.

"You are crazy, Katsuro!" he hissed, tears mixing with the rain on his face, "You think you can keep death from claiming me? Death comes to us all, you arrogant idiot!"

"Not today, it doesn't," Katsuro said, stopping the younger man's protest with a rage of kisses that brought Tetsuya down onto his back on the rain soaked ground, "Not this way. Not for a long time...not for a very long time."

Tetsuya's heart gave way under the relentless fervor of his samurai lover's penetrating kisses. His protests fell away and he sank into each offered kiss hungrily, accepting the proffered strength to join with his own. The sound of the thunder around them softened, and the rain lightened. Slowly, something seemed to shift in Tetsuya's inner world and the rain faded away. Gradually, as the two laid on the ground, the samurai's body sprawled across Tetsuya's and their mouths exploring each other more slowly, the clouds above them cleared and the moon and stars that dominated Tetsuya's inner world returned.

"Beautiful," Katsuro whispered, looking at their reflection in Tetsuya's large, blue eyes.

"It's so strange, though," the exhausted shinigami said, looking up into the sky where his moonlight ended and Katsuro's sunset began, "I've never seen daylight of any kind in my inner world...not until now. Not until you."

He paused, gazing up into Katsuro's smiling eyes. Finally, the sadness and worry left his eyes and his smile returned. The samurai's finger traced Tetsuya's smile and his lips honored it with a gentle kiss. Surprise and relief flooded the samurai's weary form as Tetsuya's next words reached his ears.

"I love you too."


	4. Spring Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amidst Tetsuya's healing, the demon attacks again.

"It feels strange, not having the children with us," Byakuya said, looking over at the empty bassinets near the bed.

Renji slid his hands beneath his husband's yukata, gently caressing his chest and soft belly, catching a fingertip in his navel, then teasing his nipples lightly, while he ducked his head beneath the noble's chin and nibbled and licked the white skin of his throat.

"I feel the same," he admitted, "But they are safer under guard with the king. And we have to get up early to go to the planning meeting. Anyway, it's nice to get some time alone with you. It's been all about the kids lately, and I've almost forgotten what you taste like."

"Renji..." Byakuya whispered, falling back as the redhead slipped the noble's yukata down off his shoulders and did the same to his own.

Byakuya's fingers traced the bold markings on Renji's chest, and his eyes hazed over and closed, as Renji laid down on top of him, parting his slender thighs and bringing their awakening erections into direct contact. Byakuya moaned and his eyelids fluttered at the feeling of heat and the lovely, dizzying masculine scent of his lover. Renji attacked his mouth more hungrily, his hands striving to touch Byakuya everywhere, from the pretty, angular curves of his face, to the graceful white throat, the muscular shoulders and chest, proud, erect nipples, delicate ribcage, long, slim arms and delicate looking hands, soft, relaxed belly, following the fine black hairs down to where their naked cocks rubbed together, along the slender thighs, strong calves and down to his very toes. He crawled down Byakuya's body, kissing him all of the way, and making his quieter counterpart blush sweetly.

"That's right," Renji whispered, "That's the lover I remember..."

"O-oh!" sighed Byakuya, blinking and losing focus as Renji kissed his way from breast to thigh and spread the noble's thighs wide, "Gods, Renji! I didn't realize how much I missed this..."

Renji made a soft sound of amusement.

"You sure you're the same guy who ran away from me after the first time we were together on our wedding night? You look like him...but you're looking at me through very different eyes."

"It is not that I am looking at you differently," Byakuya corrected him, "It is that I am really seeing you, Renji. I am sorry for how I acted on our wedding night. And I promise that when our anniversary comes, I will make it up to you."

"No need for that," Renji assured him, sliding forward and rubbing the damp head of his hardened member all around the noble's entrance, "Not that I won't happily accept, but I understand how difficult it was for you to obey the order to become my mate."

He pushed inside Byakuya's body in slow, gentle thrusts, watching the noble's eyes soften and go hazy as he was taken.

"It may have been difficult at the time," Byakuya whispered, closing his eyes and catching his breath softly as Renji's hips moved, and the redhead began thrusting, "However, I just needed time to adjust."

Renji sighed and continued the steady, intense motion.

"I should have been more accepting of that. I hate that I hurt you...that...after you lost your first baby, I couldn't comfort you. You took it all on yourself."

Byakuya moaned feverishly and raised his hips to meet Renji's increasingly heavy thrusts.

"That won't happen anymore," Byakuya panted, writhing beneath the redhead as Renji angled his thrusts to strike the pleasure center inside the noble, rendering him unable to speak, but not beyond crying out in ecstasy as gave in to the rush of pleasure that roared through his body as Renji's seething heat filled him inside and his own seed erupted in warm spurts onto their skin.

"I love you so much!" Renji panted, lowering himself to devour his lover's spilled seed, then attacking his mouth with a storm of blazing kisses, before he collapsed onto Byakuya's chest, catching his breath and listening to the falling rain outside their room.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Renji promised, nibbling on Byakuya's ear, then kissing him on the pale throat, "I swear I won't."

"You are in just as much danger as I am, Renji," the noble reminded him, "This demon is savage...relentless. Kami, it nearly killed Tetsuya. I don't know what I would have done if your father hadn't helped to stabilize him. I only hope now that Tetsuya will be able to make a full recovery. It is a lot to ask, considering how badly he was injured..."

"But he has a good healer," said Renji, "And my dad's not going to leave him alone for a minute. He really has fallen head over heels in love with Tetsuya."

"I thought that it riled you somewhat that your father was pursuing a lover so much younger than himself."

Renji shook his head.

"Not so much anymore," he admitted softly, "Because I see how happy they make each other...the way my dad's flirting flusters Tetsuya, and as much as he thinks he should resist, Tetsuya just can't help but love him."

"Sounds like an oddly familiar story," commented Byakuya, kissing the redhead's throat and tracing along one of the tattoos on his shoulder with his tongue, "The Akabuke clan is a scandalously bold lot, but I must admit that they are also intoxicating lovers, to whom, it seems, the members of the Kuchiki clan have little to no resistance, in the end."

"Well, I'm pretty damned happy about that."

"Yes, I see that."

XXXXXXXXXX

Kazuki stood quietly under the soft fall of rain in the clearing near the palace, still panting softly from the exertion of his and Akabuke's nightly love ritual. The samurai stood behind him, with his arms wrapped around the noble, and his lips running kisses up his pale, rain-slicked throat.

"I hate that we'll be separated again," said Kazuki, "I know that your place is with his majesty during this crisis, but my heart aches knowing how soon we must take our leave of each other. We have only recently been reunited."

He turned to face the samurai, and was met with another warm onslaught of kisses.

"You, Byakuya and Renji will find and eradicate that demon," Akabuke said calmly, "And we will be together again before you know it."

"I know that," replied Kazuki, holding his lover more tightly, "I believe it with all of my heart."

"Then we will be all right," said Akabuke, slipping a hand into his and leading him back through the rain soaked gardens and to the balcony of their room.

They nodded to the guards who had been positioned at strategic points around the palace, then moved inside, closing the garden doors behind them. 

Outside in the cover of the trees, the demon watched quietly, waiting for his opportunity.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya's wide blue eyes blinked open, and he found himself looking up into Katsuro's affectionate gaze. He moved his lips to speak, but caught his breath worriedly as his voice failed to sound. The calm, kind face of the king's healer appeared next to the samurai's.  
"Do not worry, Tetsuya Norite," he assured the young noble, "I have only placed a protective kido on the injured region of your throat. It will be some time before I can be sure, but right now, it looks as though you will regain use of your voice with rest and additional healing."

"So no talking," said Katsuro, grinning at him, "But that's okay, love. Talk is somewhat overrated, in my opinion. And even if not, you and I say plenty without uttering a word, ne?"

Tetsuya gave him a momentary look of reproach.

"See there?" Katsuro asked the healer, "He was clearly saying that he can't wait to regain his voice so that he can whisper his undying affection to me."

The noble rolled his eyes and shook his head resignedly, relaxing his body as Katsuro and the healer carefully turned him onto his stomach so that the healer could examine the healing wound on his back.

"You were extremely lucky here," said the healer, "Although you took damage to some of your internal organs, we were able to heal them, and I do not see signs of swelling near the spinal column, so it looks as though you will retain your mobility. However, you will move about somewhat gingerly for a time. I would say that you should refrain from anything that puts great strain on your back for a week or so, then gentle riding for a time after that. I'm afraid you will not be able to assume your post with the norite for three weeks to a month."

"Well," said Katsuro, noting the mixture of relief and frustration in Tetsuya's expression, "selfish as it is, I am rather pleased you won't be abandoning me right away to take off with that rather stuffy bunch of riders. This will be like something of a preparatory vacation, ne?"

"Very well," said the healer, smiling at the flustered look Tetsuya gave the samurai, "I will leave the two of you to sleep for the night. I will be back on the morning to check your progress."

"Thank you," said Katsuro, gratefully, "Tetsuya and I owe you for everything you did to stabilize and keep him alive."

The old healer smiled and shook his head.

"I patched him up," he said, glancing at the young man, "but it was you that convinced him to give his best to staying with us. Good night, then. I will see you in the morning."

Katsuro watched him leave, then smiled at his youthful counterpart, who had shifted onto his back and settled onto the pillows again.  
"So then," the samurai said quietly, his dark, red-brown eyes taking on a more amorous shine, "It looks like you will be staying with me for a while, ne Tetsuya?"

The younger man arched an eyebrow in challenge, but Katsuro shook his head dismissively.

"King's orders," he said firmly, "This demon that attacked you has yet to be found. And while the search for him goes on, we cannot eliminate the possibility that it may have targeted you for a reason. In any case, I want to be close by to aid in your healing. I may be a samurai first, but I can give you reiatsu infusions and gentle massage to relieve your discomfort."

He leaned closer and whispered the next words into the younger man ear, bringing a blush to his face.

"And if those are not enough, I can certainly distract you away from the pain in other ways."

He read the sudden look of uncertainty that had come into the younger man's eyes, and caressed his cheek lightly.

"What is it?" asked Katsuro, "Do you still have doubts? Do you still question that we are meant to be together?"

Tetsuya's sapphire eyes fastened on his, and Katsuro's own eyes widened as he heard the faint sound of Tetsuya's whisper in his mind.

I do not doubt that we are meant for each other.

But I am afraid.

I lost my first love, Naoki, before we could be together. And you are a heedless, reckless man...one who will always place himself in harm's way willingly...brash and fearless. You keep death's hand close to you, and will embrace it calmly when it reaches for you. As dangerous as your sword is, your love is more dangerous still.

Katsuro sighed and smiled at him a bit sadly.

"I cannot help the way I was made. I am sorry that it is such a weight on your heart. But you too have a great fighting spirit. I can feel that. And once you take your place with the norite, you will be as heedless and reckless a defender of the king as I am."

That is why I choose to follow my heart. You do not simply accept me as I am. You love me for it. When you look at me, you do not see a noble tainted with peasant blood, you see someone beautiful and powerful. You look at me with deep respect, with honest affection. And I cannot resist you anymore. I do not want to resist you. So, ask what you will of me. My heart belongs to you, Katsuro Akabuke.

A mischievous twinkle came into the samurai's handsome, red-brown eyes. Tetsuya gazed at him questioningly.

"Marry me, Tetsuya Norite. Marry me right now!"

But I...?

"Marry me."

Tetsuya gazed up at him for several long minutes, then reached up and removed the samurai's hair tie, letting the long, mingled red and silver strands spill down over his shoulders. He looked into the relentless, loving eyes, placing his hands on Katsuro's face and running them through the fallen lengths of his hair. The samurai waited breathlessly.

Release the protective kido on my throat.

"What?" exclaimed Katsuro, looking surprised, "No..."

I will answer in a whisper, but I will answer you aloud.

The samurai gave him a disapproving look, but released the kido.

"You are allowed one word. Hopefully yes," Katsuro said, smirking, "Then, I am replacing that kido spell!"

Tetsuya smiled.

"Yes..."

He started to say more, but was immediately silenced again. Katsuro lifted the younger man out of bed, and Tetsuya looped his arms around the samurai's strong shoulders.

"Let's go and wake everyone up, shall we?" he asked, turning towards the door.

He hadn't taken but one step towards the door, when the balcony doors shattered and a creature, blacker than midnight burst through and charged towards them.

Tetsuya reacted instantly, firing a hard blast of kido that altered the demon's course, just enough to keep it from striking them. Katsuro set him back down on the bed, at the same time, calling his blade to his hand and fending the beast off, as it came at them again.

The two locked their bodies together as Tetsuya crawled onto his knees and looked for an opening to attack. The demon threw his weight against the samurai, forcing him back against the wall and straining against the blade that held him away.

"You are the second!" the beast snarled, raising his claw to attack.

Kido fire erupted from Tetsuya's hands, striking the demon and forcing it to loose its grasp on Katsuro. The younger man reeled from the use of his powers so soon after his injury, but remained on his knees on the bed as Katsuro launched himself at the demon.  
Pounding feet sounded in the hallway outside their room and the palace sirens began to wail. The demon glared at them, hissing with hatred as it slashed at them again, then broke away and dashed back out the broken doors. Katsuro launched himself after the creature, flash stepping onto the balcony rail, then loosing his shikai.

"Seek and burn, Hinote!" 

Tetsuya staggered to the door, just in time to see a breathtaking red, orange and golden dragon explode from Katsuro's extended blade and follow the demon down into the trees. Renji's red tiger form appeared with Byakuya clinging to his back, on a nearby balcony. He followed Katsuro's seeking dragon, as the dragon's master shouted a warning to Tetsuya to remain with the guards, then flash stepped after. Kazuki and Akabuke followed, with their swords drawn and the noble's starfire lighting up the area ahead of them so that they could see better as they pursued the fleeing demon.

Tetsuya remained in the shattered doorway, panting heavily and leaning against the damaged frame as he fought to stay on his feet. He caught his breath in surprise as a strong arm wrapped around him and provided support as he was turned back towards the bed. The man who had assisted him helped him into bed, then smiled down at him. Tetsuya was stunned all over again at seeing by the man's livery that he was none other than the captain of the norite. And behind him, stood several others, likewise dressed. He gazed at them with surprised, questioning eyes.

"Tetsuya Norite," Captain Yemon said, noting the young initiate's look of confusion, "You may not have begun to serve with us, but you are one of us, nonetheless. The norite are an ancient brotherhood, a class of riders unparalleled in all of the three worlds. And when one of us is attacked, all of us respond."

Tetsuya offered the gathered men a look of deep gratitude as the king's healer appeared and began a quick assessment of Tetsuya's condition.

"We will leave you to your healing," Yemon said quietly, "but some of us will be posted near you at all times until this creature is destroyed."

He spoke quietly with the other norite, then left as several of the men took up posts at all of the entrances to the room.

"You are lucky, young man," the healer chided him, "You could have singed your spirit centers, using full power again so suddenly. Though, I suppose you had little choice with that demon trying to get at you."

Tetsuya only half listened. His eye kept returning to the broken balcony doors and his heart could only focus on the man he had just agreed to marry. He heard Arashi's worried whinny sound outside the palace and connected with the concerned stallion's mind.

I am safe. Arashi, you must go to Katsuro. Protect him as you would me.

He heard a soft equine snicker in his mind.

As you wish, Master.

But even knowing that Arashi was going after the samurai, he couldn't help but feel an odd chill inside.

It won't be like that.

He isn't going to leave me the way Naoki had to. He is stronger than that demon, and he is going to come back safely.

But no matter what he told himself, he couldn't relax enough to fall asleep again until word came that the demon's trail had been lost, and that the fighters were returning to the palace.


	5. The Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuya and Katsuro enjoy their new bond, but as they do, the demon claims another victim...

Katsuro! Tetsuya mouthed soundlessly, upon seeing the group of fighters enter the palace grounds.   
He stepped forward and away from the king's side gingerly, gently supported by a member of the norite. Katsuro stepped away from the others, shaking his head and frowning at the deathly pale noble.

"There is no way that you should be on your feet, right now, Tetsuya," he chided the young man, "I am taking you back to bed right now."

"He is right, watashi no itoko," said Byakuya, looking concerned at his cousin's worrisome physical state, "You must rest."

Tetsuya looked into Katsuro's eyes expectantly. The samurai looked back questioningly.

Can you have forgotten already?

Katsuro's eyes widened, and he broke into a wide smile.

"Ah, yes," he chuckled, making the others pause and gaze at him inquiringly, "Tetsuya and I were about to make an announcement...before we were so rudely interrupted.

"An announcement?" repeated Akabuke, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," said the samurai, "You see, it seems that our Tetsuya has finally come to his senses."

Tetsuya let out an amused breath and shook his head, then caught his breath in surprise as he was swept up into Katsuro's strong arms.

"My lord," the samurai said proudly, smiling at the king, "I would be very pleased and honored if his majesty would marry us...here...now."

The king's eyebrow rose inquisitively.

"Right here? Right now?" he repeated, tilting his head in askance, "In this very courtyard? Not that I do not think it's lovely, but...are you sure?"

"Yes!" said Katsuro, enthusiastically, "As you can see, my lovely mate, here isn't really up to a formal wedding, but we would rather not wait another moment, ne Tetsuya?"

Tetsuya colored slightly, but smiled and nodded in agreement. Renji and Akabuke broke into wide grins and Kazuki and Byakuya exchanged pleased glances.

"It looks like we're having a wedding, then!" Renji said, enthusiastically.

"It looks that way," Tatsuo said warmly.

"Lord Samurai," Byakuya said, smirking, "I do not recall you officially asking for my cousin's hand. Though spouse to a samurai, myself, I remain the head of the Kuchiki Clan. It would be a stain on my honor to have you sweep my cousin away without even so much as my blessing."

The noble turned to his attendant and said something beneath everyone else's hearing. The attendant nodded, bowed and flash stepped away as Byakuya turned back to the others.

"Ah, I have been rude," Katsuro said, returning Byakuya's levity.

He set Tetsuya back on his feet and slipped an arm around him, holding him steady as he addressed Byakuya again.

"Lord Byakuya, if it pleases you...and...even if it doesn't," he said, chuckling, "I wish to ask for your cousin's hand in marriage."

Katsuro's twinkling eyes took on a beautiful, genuinely affectionate look as they met the young Norite's.

"Since the moment I first laid eyes on this lovely gem of the Kuchiki family, I have been able to think of little else. Perhaps he is young, and a bit heedless, but he has also proven to be strong, intuitive, persistent, gentle with other gentle souls, and gifted in the arts of healing, and care of the heart. He is everything that a rogue samurai like me considers irresistible."

Tetsuya's smiling lips trembled softly and his blush deepened.

"I promise you that I will watch over him and make certain that he is kept safe and well. I will safeguard his honor, and cherish him always, until death parts us...and beyond."

The room had gone quiet and Tetsuya gazed into Katsuro's red-brown eyes, his own sapphire eyes speaking volumes his stopped voice could not. A slender, pale hand cupped Katsuro's rough cheek, caressing lightly as Tetsuya met his lips for a kiss of profound gratitude. He seemed to realize that everyone was still watching them and waiting, and he turned back to Byakuya.

"Cousin?" Byakuya said softly, "What say you? Will you consent to give this 'rogue samurai' your hand in marriage?"

I would be honored, Tetsuya mouthed.

Katsuro grinned.

"He said yes, of course. What, are you crazy? Who wouldn't want to marry a half wild samurai! Especially having had to endure those boring, stuffy old..."

Tetsuya cleared his throat softly and regarded his fiance with an arched eyebrow and annoyed expression.

"Well," said Katsuro, recovering himself, "He did say yes."

"Very well," Byakuya said, stepping forward and capturing one of each of their hands and looking into their happy eyes, "Tetsuya Norite and Lord Katsuro, you have the permission and the blessing of myself and the Kuchiki clan, to wed at once."

Tetsuya let out a shuddering breath and wrapped his arms around Byakuya in a show of gratitude and affection. Byakuya allowed himself a small, affectionate smile and embraced his cousin, then captured his hand and set it gently in Katsuro's.

"Lord rogue samurai," Byakuya said, his lips smirking again, "I give my cousin into your keeping, and I trust that you will keep him happy and well."

He paused as his attendant returned, bearing a pale blue silken scarf, which he carefully unfolded and placed around his cousin's shoulders. 

"I had this made especially for your wedding, Tetsuya," Byakuya told his cousin, "I didn't know where or when it would be, but I knew that it would be a beautiful occasion. Congratulations."

Tetsuya's eyes filled with shock, then dampened. He touched the fine material, then met Byakuya's eyes and turned back to embrace his cousin more tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered in Byakuya's ear, "Thank you, Byakuya. Thank you for everything!"

He turned back to Katsuro and rejoined hands with him, then the two turned to the king, who waited as Akabuke, Kazuki and Renji took up positions at Katsuro's shoulder and Byakuya and the captain of the Norite stood with Tetsuya. The king smiled and nodded, seeing that the couple was ready to begin.

"We are gathered together today to join this rogue samurai and this impetuous young Norite in the bonds of holy matrimony. Joined in purpose already as strong defenders of the crown, they seek a more personal union. For my samurai, this is not his first wedding, but his choice to seek love again after the loss of his mate is a decision that shows how a loving heart can be rekindled after a difficult loss."

He turned his head and met Tetsuya's widened eyes.

"Tetsuya Norite, you have not had an easy life. For one so young, you have endured torments that would have destroyed a weaker heart, but yours has endured through everything. You too, have experienced love and loss, so even being younger than your intended, you possess unnatural wisdom."

He laid his hand on their joined hands and gently bound them with a slender swirl of kido.

"Who gives Katsuro Akabuke into this marriage?"

"We do," said Akabuke, Kazuki and Renji.

"And who gives Tetsuya Kuchiki Norite into this marriage?"

"We do," said Byakuya and the captain of the Norite.

"Very well," said the king, "Katsuro Akabuke, do you take Tetsuya Norite to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward? Will you love him and cleave unto him for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health? Will you love, honor and cherish him for all of the days of your lives?"

"I will," said the widely smiling samurai, his mischievous eyes twinkling merrily.

"And do you, Tetsuya Norite, take Katsuro Akabuke to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward? For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health? Will you love, honor and cherish him for all the days of your lives?"

He reached out and brushed his fingers against Tetsuya's bandaged throat, allowing him to loose two softly spoken words.

"I will."

"Katsuro and Tetsuya, having given your pledges to one another and with the blessings of the royal forefathers, I pronounce you partners in life, bonded in love and bound by the ties of love and family. You may now exchange a kiss as the first gift of your new union."

All eyes watched as a blissfully happy Katsuro closed his eyes and captured Tetsuya's lips in a long, lingering kiss. They parted and kissed again, then Katsuro lifted the younger man into his arms and turned back towards the palace.

"Thank you. Now, if you will please excuse us, my husband needs to return to the bed that he shouldn't have left."

"Eh," said Renji, "Dad, wasn't your room kinda destroyed by the demon?"

"Ah," said Katsuro, nodding, "So it was. Then...we will retire to Tetsuya's quarters."

"Byakuya and I will be on duty outside the balcony doors to make sure there's no trouble," Renji said, hugging Katsuro tightly, "Congratulations, both of you. I'm really happy for you."

"Yes, congratulations," Byakuya said, embracing the two, then turning to follow Renji.

"We will relieve Byakuya and Renji, later tonight," said Kazuki, "Congratulations, Son."

"Thank you," said Katsuro, embracing his parents, one by one.

"Enjoy him," Akabuke whispered in Katsuro's ear, making his progeny smile, "He is going to be the loveliest of challenges, I think."

"I think you are right."

"Well, if you will excuse me," said the king, "I will be going to make a report to the council regarding the demon attacks. Enjoy your wedding night, my samurai. In the morning, I think I will need you at my side."

"Of course, your majesty," Katsuro said, bowing his head, and watching as the monarch left the courtyard.

He looked down at Tetsuya and smiled.

"Back to bed with you. You need your need your rest."

I need my husband, Tetsuya mouthed, offering him a more amorous kiss.

"Oh, no, I don't think so," said the samurai, "But then, I am not sure I will be able to resist you, Tetsuya. I feel myself weakening already..."

He pulled the younger man close and flash stepped towards Tetsuya's bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So...how are you handling it, Abarai?" asked Byakuya, as the two stood guard duty outside of Tetsuya's quarters, "Your father marrying someone younger than you?"

"Shut up," Renji laughed, stopping the noble's teasing with a kiss, "They're really in love. I can see that now. I'm still a little unnerved about it. But it does seem like they're really happy together. They complement each other. I think they'll be good together."

"Me too," agreed Byakuya, "I was hoping that Tetsuya would find someone very special. He has had such a difficult life."

"Well, he had you," said Renji, "And as difficult as everything was, once you came into his life, things got a lot better."

"I did my best to be there for him. And Tetsuya brought something important into my life too. We were close in a way I couldn't be with other people. We shared in having lost our parents too soon. We connected on many levels...both somewhat lonely and distant from others our age. We ended up being more like brothers than cousins."

"He was damned lucky to have you."

"And as much it rankles me to say it, he is even luckier to be loved by someone like your father."

"Eh...should I be jealous?" Renji chuckled, "I know I complained when you pretty much couldn't stand the sight of him. But ever since what happened at Kuchiki Manor, I have to admit, I'm a little sensitive, okay?"

"You didn't really think that I would have such low morals as to have an affair with my own father-in-law, did you?" Byakuya asked, frowning.

"Well, come on. The guy never stopped hitting on you."

"He wasn't serious."

"Yeah, well he got serious pretty quick when he found a young, impressionable and available Kuchiki. How was I to know he wasn't really attracted to you."

"Bite your tongue, Abarai!" Byakuya said reprovingly, "How dare you suggest that the only reason that your father pursued Tetsuya was because I was taken!"

"Well..."

"You know there is a lot more between them than that. What they have is quite profound. And I won't have you saying..."

He broke off, frowning, as an odd rustling sound reached them.

"What was that?" Renji said, scanning the bushes below them.

Byakuya dropped down off the balcony, motioning for the redhead to watch from above. Renji nodded silently and shifted quickly to tiger form, using the beast's sharper eyes to scan the area. A low growl issued from deep in his throat as a dark reiatsu registered with him, and he leapt down off the balcony and started towards where Byakuya was searching. He was halfway there, when a dark form exploded from the bushes near the noble and charged him.

"BYAKUYA!" roared Renji, "DROP!"

Byakuya didn't hesitate, but dropped immediately to the ground, flinching and staring as the demon passed over him and landed on his far side. It turned back and glared at him.

"You are the third!" it hissed, slashing at him.

"Not on my watch!" yelled Renji, leaping into the air and landing on the creature's back. 

The force of Renji's attack, sent the two tumbling away, but left Byakuya with time to come to his feet, and flash step forward. 

"Bakudo number 63, Rykojokoro!" the noble cried.

The two watched as the six bladed prison of light formed around the struggling demon.

"Fool!" it hissed, "You cannot contain me!"

The demon's reiatsu exploded around them as Byakuya attacked with his sword and Renji slashed at him with his claws, and released a hard blast of kido fire from his open mouth.

"Take that, you cowardly, sneaky piece of shit!" he snarled.

Byakuya fired a blast of kido, striking the demon and knocking it off its feet as the beast. But the demon returned the attack so quickly, he took Byakuya off his feet, threw him down and fired a blast of red fire into his body at point blank range, stealing the breath from his lungs and making them burn painfully as he gasped for air.

Renji tackled the demon, twisting at blinding speed, slashing and biting ferociously, then blasting the creature with more red fire from his mouth.

"How DARE you put your claws on my mate! And Tetsuya, and my dad! You're going to pay for that!"

He shot forward, sinking his claws into the demon's body, tearing with his claws, biting and firing more kido. On the ground a short distance away, Byakuya struggled to his knees and crawled towards the two, gasping Renji's name and summoning his ban kai.   
Renji caught his breath in surprise as a hail of pink petals angled around his body and slashed at the demon from all directions. He caught the demon by the throat and bit down, firing a last blast into the open wound. The demon screamed in fury and sank his claws into Renji's tiger form, locking their eyes together as he breathed several words that the redhead didn't understand.

"Renji!" cried Byakuya, as the demon tore free and started to stagger away.

Renji stumbled to his feet and shifted back to shinigami form, pursuing as the demon tried to escape. Byakuya staggered to his feet, but was taken to the ground again a moment later as an explosion of reiatsu tore through the area. 

"No! Renji!" he cried, coming onto his knees as the palace sirens blared and guardsmen poured out to assist him.

"Renji! He followed it into the brush, just there! Renji!"

"Take it easy, Lord Kuchiki. You've been injured," said a field healer.

"I don't care about that!" Byakuya yelled, forcing to his feet and stumbling in the direction that the redhead had gone.

"Renji! Renji where are you! RENJI!"


	6. Burned Out Soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Tetsuya and Katsuro enjoy wedded bliss, Renji struggles with the demon...

Katsuro set Tetsuya down on his large, soft bed and left for a moment, returning with hot tea and fresh bandages. He wove his fingers into the younger man's silken black waves of long hair and offered his new mate a long, passionate kiss to warm his lips, then slowly unraveled the sea of bandages that had lain over Tetsuya's slender throat and torso. His handsome, red-brown eyes were serious, but calm as they examined the healing wounds.

"You are healing well," he commented, "What scarring there is will be light."

I am not so worried about the scars, though I am glad they will be light, thought Tetsuya, employing again his ability to connect with Katsuro's mind.

He paused for a moment, watching the green healing kido that emanated from the older man's calloused hands and flowed into the noble's softer skin, easing the residual pain and aiding in the wounds' healing.

Scars chart the stories of our growth into new strength, he went on, exploring the samurai's exposed skin with his sapphire eyes, then reaching between them to loose the tie at his husband's waist. 

Every marking has a story to tell, a struggle that it documents. As a healer, it is interesting to hear people speak about the stories behind the markings. And your markings, both scars and these tattoos, I am sure, will give us much to share in the way of stories.

"To be sure," Katsuro answered, a smile touching his lips as he continued to heal the young noble.

I noticed, when I healed you after the demon attack, that the lines on your body are finer and less bold than Renji Abarai's, and they are more widespread than your father, Akabuke's. You have seen many battles, I think, Master Samurai.

"Tetsuya," chuckled Katsuro, "You needn't be so formal anymore. Though, I must admit, I find it quite enchanting when you call me that."

Tetsuya smiled and studied the pattern of black tattoos that trailed down his lean, powerful frame, noting the intricate design, the careful placement.

Akabuke's markings swirl, reminding me of the billowing power of his zanpakutou. Renji's are more bold, reflecting the brashness of his battle style.

"And mine?" queried the samurai, his hands working into the healing muscle and tissues of Tetsuya's back.

Yours fan out over your skin and look like they were applied with a more delicate brush. Reminiscent of both your zanpakutou dragon's fangs and the lovely feathers of a peacock's tail, they speak of both pride and dangerous fighting power. But this, Tetsuya said, indicating the gentler pattern over the samurai's softer abdomen, This pattern has boldness on the surface, but tenderness written beneath. You have great strength, but a surprisingly gentle heart. You have known great triumph and renown, but you have also endured pain that cut you deeply.

Katsuro's smile widened.

"Well, my love, you may not have a pattern of tattoos, but your fine skin tells tales as well."

His fingertips found a very light scar on one porcelain cheek.

"This one is from the days of your incarceration in the half-blood's prison, ne?"

Yes. I was struck across the face because I came between a guard and my friend, Naoki. Naoki was ill and not able to leave our cell. I offered to go in his stead, but the guard struck me to get me out of the way and took him out anyway. They could be awfully cruel. Naoki and I both wondered why until the question became useless. Their hatred was pointless...just a reason to hold us down and humiliate us. But we had each other.

"You were close to this boy, then?"

Yes. But we were never more than friends. We weren't allowed to be. Naoki and I shared a cell and did everything together. We might have been lovers, but for that the collars we were forced to wear inflicted pain if we attempted to interact in a sexual way. We were kept in a special section of the prison, where the guards housed the ones they considered attractive enough to use for their pleasure. Naoki and I were too young for that, but had Byakuya not arrived when he did, we would have been used that way.

"That is horrible, Tetsuya," Katsuro said, caressing the old scar with a rough skinned fingertip, "Where is Naoki now?"

Tetsuya sighed and closed his eyes.

Naoki died during the liberation of the prisoners. He placed himself between an attacking guard and me...to save my life. The last thing he said was that he loved me. I would have kissed him them, but we still wore the collars. All we were ever able to do was to look into each others' eyes, lace our fingers together and lie down in each others' arms as we slept. But even so little as that was a blessing.

"Such cruelty," whispered Katsuro, "but somehow you emerged with a still strong heart. And it makes sense that although you are capable as a fighter, you acted as well as a healer."

Touch is sacred to me. Touches convey everything...love, hatred, hurt, healing, longing, caring.

"And what do my hands tell you when they touch you, Tetsuya?" the samurai asked, continuing the flow of healing energy into the young noble's injured body.

Your hands are protective and gentle with me, but I feel the tremor of fury, the desire for revenge, how you are more than prepared to use your sword to return every hurt placed upon my body. I know already that you will leave my side to face this demon that attacked me. You are resolved in this, and nothing I say will change your mind. The only thing keeping you here is your concern for me.

Katsuro's hand cupped the younger man's soft cheek and he kissed Tetsuya's pliant mouth again as he continued the healing and then began to cover the wounds with fresh bandages.

I would ask but one thing before you leave me, Katsuro.

The samurai's questioning eyes met his.

Complete our bonding. I have never experienced the fullness of love. We are married now and I would embrace the natural expression of that.

Katsuro's lips tightened and he shook his head, only to find that a stubborn shine had entered Tetsuya's eyes, and the younger man was already moving, letting his yukata fall away to reveal the tempting expanse of soft, pale flesh, sliding onto his husband's lap and spreading his creamy thighs. Katsuro tensed, his body reacting instantly to the lovely young man as he pressed closer.

"Tetsuya, not in your condition..."

The noble's mind went quiet, his eyes gazing deeply into Katsuro's, shining with deep affection and unrepentant desire.

"No."

The noble's insistent mouth stopped his words with hard, amorous kisses, and the slow caress of that soft, fevered body against his set his heart pounding and ignited the more feral heart inside him. His awakened member blossomed and ached. He considered dropping the young man with a quick flicker of kido, but something in those sapphire eyes stole his resolve away, and instead he moved with Tetsuya, falling into deeper, more penetrating kisses.

Tetsuya shivered and loosed a soundless moan at the sensation of the samurai's rougher skin rubbing teasingly against his, at the harder kisses and deeper penetration of the older man's practiced tongue into his mouth, at the warm, heady scent of his arousal. He tremblingly slid his innocent member along his husband's larger one, nearly gasping at the blazing heat of it, and quivering at the thought of it breaking the barriers of his younger body and filling him inside, where he ached with many years' worth of dread loneliness.

Tetsuya's fingers slid into the samurai's red and silver hair, freeing it from the hair tie and letting it rain down onto the older man's muscular, tattooed shoulders. The tantalizing feel of it made Katsuro give a hungry growl of arousal and slide his hands down Tetsuya's bandaged torso, his hands curving around the noble's pretty, white bottom, and his hastily wetted fingers invading Tetsuya's virgin entrance as the two kissed harder, and the reiatsu swelled between them. Tetsuya watched the hypnotic movement of the samurai's array of tattoos through slitted eyes, as their bodies rubbed heatedly together, and Katsuro's leaking member left a fiery trail where it slid along his thigh.

Katsuro's free hand caressed Tetsuya's hardened member, teasing fluid from the brightly flushed tip, capturing it on a stroking fingertip, then tasting it and sharing the intoxicating flavor in unrestrained, almost painfully intense kisses. Tetsuya's pearly nails slid down his back, making the older man growl with intense arousal and bite and suck at the tender skin of the younger man's throat and shoulder.

Tetsuya became quickly breathless at the deep invasion of the older man's rough, wet fingers. Whispery gasps of mingled pain and pleasure escaped his lips as Katsuro's fingers pushed inside, thrusting and stretching Tetsuya's tight, unbreached entrance. The young noble quivered at the penetration of the first finger, shook and gasped at the second, and would have cried out as the third finger pushed inside him, if he could have made a sound. Katsuro felt the tension in the younger man's body and slowed his movements, soothing his mate with gentler kisses. He found the center of pleasure inside Tetsuya's body, and stimulated it, watching as the younger man gasped and writhed in reaction, sweat breaking out on his skin as his body danced against Katsuro's.

Tetsuya gave a soundless groan as his lover's fingers slid out of his prepared bottom and Katsuro gently captured his hips and positioned him over the samurai's swollen erection. He slowly lowered the younger man onto his damp member, intently watching the haze that rose up in the wide blue eyes that looked back at him, feeling the quiver of slight pain in his body at their joining. He paused and returned to kissing Tetsuya, giving him time to adjust. Then, with a hand on his injured back, flowing healing reiatsu, and the other on his hip to steady him, Katsuro smiled at Tetsuya and began a gentle thrusting.

Tetsuya's lips parted in whispers of rising pleasure. And as the intensity of their coupling increased, his hands tightened on Katsuro's shoulders until they gripped him tightly. Katsuro's lips tickled his and dipped beneath his chin to taste the sweet, pale skin of his throat as he pushed deeply into Tetsuya's silken depths, moaning restlessly at the delicious tightness and barely able to maintain control so as not to hurt his injured mate. Their movements became more ragged and their breathing harsher, their bodies raging hotly against each other as they approached climax. Tetsuya loosed a soft, gasping cry as pleasure overtook him, then collapsed against Katsuro's sweating shoulder as the samurai's cock twitched inside him and wonderful flashes of heat filled him, while his own hot release spilled onto their dampened skin.

Katsuro laid Tetsuya down on his back, feeding him gentler kisses and slowly licking the wet remains of their lovemaking from the younger man's pale skin, as they slowly caught their breath. The noble's fingers traced the rugged lines of his face, then slid along the black markings on his skin.

"I shouldn't have let you talk me into that," Katsuro whispered against his lips, "but I have a real weak spot for you, love."

I know.

"Don't you," Katsuro chuckled, smiling down at his pleasantly sated mate, "My father was right. He told me that you would be a handful, Tetsuya. Proud, stubborn, willful...and the loveliest creature I'll ever lay eyes on. It will be all too easy to keep that promise I made to never abandon you. Aishiteru yo."

He curled his body around the young noble's, closing his eyes and beginning to drift off. But just as sleep began to overtake the two, the palace sirens brought them awake with a start. Katsuro sat up, his eyes intense and his fingertips touching his breast, over his heart.

"Renji," he whispered, a shiver going through him at the cold feeling that raked his flesh.

He launched off the bed, his clothing still in disarray as his zanpakutou formed in his hand and he flew out the balcony doors, leaving Tetsuya staring as the bedroom doors opened and guards and Norite positioned themselves carefully around him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Renji flash stepped into the trees, his zanpakutou in hand and his reiatsu blazing red all around him. He barely felt the slashes already on his tattooed skin and he ignored the burning in his blood as he pursued the staggering demon. The demon turned in mid-flight, firing a blast of red fire that shattered a tree on his right, and another he had to evade, then fleeing again. The redhead made a sound of triumph, noting the splashes of dark blood on the foliage and sensing that the distance between them was slowly being closed.  
He shifted to tiger form again, loathe to lose the demon's trail again as it ran from him.

There's no way in hell that thing is getting away from me this time! It killed that guy from the Norite trials, it nearly slaughtered Tetsuya. It attacked my dad and it tried to kill Byakuya. That thing is not getting away this time! I won't let it!

His flash steps tore the leaves from the bushes as he passed, and eventually, he heard, and then saw the fleeing demon, just ahead of him. The beast tried to continue to flee, but realized quickly that the redhead was too fast, and it was not going to escape. The demon turned and slid to a stop, unleashing an inferno of kido blasts that rocked the ground around them and scorched the trees and brush. Renji launched himself into the air, catapulting himself in the direction of the demon, shifting back to shinigami form, and exploding into ban kai. The skeletal snake formed almost instantly and swept towards the demon, screeching so loud it send ripples through the foliage. It caught the demon in its fangs and drove it down into the ground, pounding the beast as the segments crashed down and broke apart. Renji flash stepped in with his sword as Zabimaru re-formed, then caught his breath in surprise as the demon emerged from the cloud of dust, attacking with shredding claws and tearing fangs. He screamed in pain as the attacks raked his flesh, and he shifted back to tiger form to better manage the close fighting conditions.

"You are going to die, samurai!" hissed the demon.

"The hell I am!" yelled Renji, "I'm going to kill you for laying hands on my family, you freak!"

"I only attacked them after that noble born murdered my mate!" snarled the demon.

"Yeah? Well, what were you doing near the palace? Don't tell me you were there sightseeing. You and your mate were up to no good! You got what you deserved, interfering with us!"

"So you say, samurai scum!" the demon said scathingly, "Well, you and your mate, and the rest of your family will all be torn to shreds when I am done with them."

"I don't think so!" howled Renji, tackling the demon, bringing it down and shredding its leathery skin with his claws. 

The two descended into a hateful exchange of slashes, bites and explosions of power. Red and black blood rained down their entangled bodies and each struggled to position himself for the killing blow. Renji fought his way into the upper position, then shifted to shinigami form and drove his blade down into the demon's chest, dragging a shriek of agony from its dying body.

To Renji's surprise, the beast looked up at him and smiled.

"You will lose, samurai!" it hissed warningly.

And before Renji could respond, it drove a clawed hand deep into the redhead's chest, it's body glowing with black fire as it loosed its last breath in the incantation for a spell. Reiatsu exploded around the two as it engulfed the dying demon's body and burned at Renji, dropping him to the forest floor in a screaming heap. He dragged himself to his knees, looking in all directions, unable to see which way the demon had gone. He knelt on the ground, panting harshly and finally registering the damage that had been done to him. His head spun dizzily and the burning inside his body flared until it seemed unbearable.

"Oh, ****..." he groaned, collapsing and letting himself fall into the cool brush, "****, it hurts!"

He continued to look around for the demon, not so convinced it was dead. But the creature did not reappear and Renji could neither hear nor see anyone coming in pursuit of them. He tried to get up, but shivered and collapsed onto the ground again, then felt the burning inside him increase until it was nearly intolerable. And in the back of his mind, he remembered something that had happened at the palace, just after his and Byakuya's wedding.

Renji eased Byakuya to the floor and leaned over him, peeling away the shredded material from his bloodstained skin. The noble kept his face passive, but swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment as Renji pulled the torn fabric from a row of deep gashes. Katsuro appeared next to Renji as the redhead prepared to heal Byakuya.

"Wait," he said quietly, placing a restraining hand on Renji's arm.

Renji looked at him questioningly.

"These demons are of an unusual type. We rarely see them…and none have ever breached the palace gates before. They carry a poison that invades the host…and slowly overcomes his mind. In this case, to close the wound, you must first address the poison…or he will become one of them."

"Shit..." the redhead panted, trying to rise again and turning his head this way and that to try to sense the direction and distance of the palace, "It didn't happen this fast when Byakuya and Tetsuya were attacked..."

He remembered then, the odd, unintelligible phrases the demon he'd fought had muttered.

I wonder if it makes it happen faster. Damn! I wonder if it's too late...

He heard the sound of flash steps in the distance and thought of Byakuya. His fevered mind couldn't help but see the noble the way he had been after the demon attack on the king, his clothing and fine skin shredded to ribbons and his body soaked in blood.

Oh god, if this is...if I am...I could...

He staggered to his feet as Byakuya's voice sounded more closely, calling his name desperately.

Byakuya...

He looked down at himself, staggering back with a guttural cry as his body glowed with wicked, black light and his blood burned hotter.

"Renji"

No!

"Renji!"

"Byakuya, get out of here!" he sobbed, turning and running as the noble's flash steps neared him.

He ran blindly into the depths of the forest, forgetting everything but the threat that he would hurt his mate or someone else.

"Renji!" Byakuya called frantically.

He must have found the blood...the place where we...

"Renji!"

No...I can't. He can't see me this way!

He moved into blistering flash steps, crashing through the brush and gasping in terror and pain as his skin darkened before his eyes and his vision began to change. The sounds of his misery, too, seemed darker and more primal, and the sadness of despair mingled with an odd, rising anger. He reached a clearing by a lake and saw his reflection in the water, and nearly came apart inside at the inescapable truth. And as Renji Abarai came face to face with the demon he had become, the laughter of the demon he had destroyed tore at him until he fell to his knees and descended into maddened screams.

And slowly, the blackness wrapped around him, stealing his life away, piece by piece until he laid, collapsed at the water's edge, panting, moaning, and no longer remembering anything...anything except fine white skin, the scent of sakura, and a pair of calm gray eyes that he somehow knew could look through the black thing he was and still manage to see him.

Who is he?

Who is that man?

Can he help me?

Who is he?


	7. Blood Trail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katsuro and Akabuke make a disturbing discovery about what may have happened to Renji.

Wide-eyed, heart pounding and his chest clenching with a chill of foreboding, Byakuya flash crashed heedlessly through the forest, barely needing to look for signs as he ran. As much as seeing the crimson and black splashes on the lush, broken foliage, where the two had passed, Renji in pursuit of the demon, the noble scented his lover's leaking blood and reiatsu and loosed his name in harder, more insistent cries.

He slid to a momentary stop at thinking he heard a sob of response. But as he stood, his chest heaving and sweat breaking out on his pristine white skin, the only sounds that reached his ears were rushes of wind, footsteps pounding in pursuit, the voices of the royal guardsmen behind him, and the harsh, guttural sound of his own harsh breathing.

He threw himself into flash steps again, abandoning any kind of caution as he pursued what might have been a shaking wind, a peal of thunder, or just a phantom, born of his own desperation. He sank into his mind as he ran, reaching out in that other way that he and Renji had recently learned to connect, and his reaching mind caught horrifying flashes of something gone awfully wrong. Usually, when his mind touched Renji's, he sensed the man's warmth and love. But what he felt now was darkness and chill uncertainty...fear that was as foreign to Renji as anything Byakuya had ever felt.

He stopped again as the forest opened into a clearing, his heart skipping painfully at the larger splashes of black and red blood.

"So much blood...too much. Renji..." he panted, his body shaking and flaring with harried reiatsu.

He sensed others approaching and flash stepped away, leaving it to the men who followed to solemnly catalogue the hard facts...the blood and broken twigs, to shake their heads in sadness at the probability of darkness in Renji's fate. Byakuya couldn't look at the situation that way. As much as he had always been cold and analytical, able to cast off heavy emotion while he dealt with tense situations, there was something about this flight through the forest, this pursuit, that resonated deeply inside him. And he would run until he simply collapsed, rather than turn back and accept what others might call inevitable.

_Renji cannot die._

_I won't allow it._

And to punctuate the thought, he poured reiatsu, heart and broken soul into moving faster and closing the distance between himself and the demon and samurai ahead of him. He moved so quickly that the voices and sounds faded behind him, so recklessly that he could almost hear Ginrei's rebuke as the elder man followed, with a unit of royal guardsmen.

_I don't understand this behavior in you, Byakuya. I thought that the years of training and education had cured you of that heedlessness, that childish loss of control._

But it wasn't heedless or childish, he thought, to throw all of himself into saving the man who had turned his life upside down, and then made it over into the best of dreams. And he wasn't alone in his appreciation of Renji's impact on his life. The others that followed...Akabuke, Kazuki Kuchiki, and Katsuro Akabuke...even Tetsuya, who was too shattered to assist and was forced to wait in the palace, behind them...yes, all of them knew the role that Renji played in making Byakuya's world, a world enriched by their mutual joy at having the two children, now under the protection of the royal guard.

_Renji..._

Byakuya reeled, crashing through bushes, ignoring the tearing of his skin and the slow leaking of his own blood, bounding over rocks and fallen trees, and calling Renji's name repeatedly as the race went on. Then came an odd moment, when the feeling of Renji's reiatsu burned against Byakuya's heart and the two life forces pulsing somewhere in the forest ahead of him throbbed strangely and began to merge. He thought it must be the pressure of the long pursuit. He was pushing himself to the ends of his strength, running at top speed and putting everything into reaching his mate.

There would be time for paying the consequences later. All that mattered now was finding Renji. But finding the redhead was turning into a much more complicated matter. And as Byakuya reached the shore of a black, misted lake, he began to sense just how very complicated it was.

There was blood here too, but amidst confusing signs. He could see easily where Renji had crashed through the brush, emerging in the clear area near the lake's edge, where he appeared to have collapsed. But strangely, the blood on the ground was still mingled red and black and the reiatsu mixed, although the scene yielded no more signs of the fleeing demon than that.

_The signs say that Renji entered the clearing here alone._

And although the blood and reiatsu from the demon could have been the result of their battle, something about that didn't sit right with the noble. He pondered the matter, walking carefully around the area, and noticing something heart-shaking.

There was no sign of how Renji had left the area. The signs of his arrival there were obvious, the place in the brush, where he had broken through, the blood trail that led to the larger splashes of blood at the lake's edge. But there were no footprints leading away, no sign anyone had taken him, and nothing to indicate that he had entered the dark water.

_Where are you?_

He ignored the burn of tears in his eyes and the sting of cuts on his skin, looking around and trying to sense the redhead's direction. But it was as though both Renji and the demon had simply disappeared.

"Impossible!" he hissed, staring at the place where Renji had fallen and lain for a time, "A person doesn't simply disappear. There has to be some sign. I am just not focused enough."

He knelt, then and touched his fingertips to the blood and reiatsu traces that had been left behind, closing his eyes, slowing his breathing, pushing everything out of his mind and aching heart to reach through their connection. He thought he felt Renji's presence for a moment, then was stricken with a shocking iciness, a horrid dark presence that welled up in his stunned mind and screamed at him in pure hatred.

_What in kami's name...?_

_What...is that?_

"Byakuya!"

Katsuro's voice slashed through the noble's deep reverie, bringing him snapping back to the water's edge, where he knelt with his fingertips touching the blood.

"He was here," Byakuya managed in a low voice, "Renji was here, but...Katsuro...the signs, they just...disappear!"

Renji's father stepped forward, turning for a moment, to trace his son's movement out of the trees, across the clearing, and to the place where Byakuya sat, still panting from exertion and searching desperately for something to tell them where Renji had gone. He knelt next to the distraught noble, scenting the blood and reiatsu, touching it with his fingertips and thinking carefully. Sudden comprehension registered in his eyes, but was gone too quickly for Byakuya to see. He captured Byakuya by the arm and the two came to their feet as Akabuke and Kazuki arrived, followed by the group of royal guardsmen.

"What is it? What has happened?" Kazuki asked, flash stepping to the two.

"I don't know," Byakuya admitted, shakenly, "The trail ends here, and there is no sign of either Renji or the demon leaving the area."

Katsuro raised his eyes and met Akabuke's for a moment, as the eldest samurai read the situation and came to the same suspicion Katuro had. As Kazuki and Byakuya joined the royal guardsmen in a careful search of the area, the two samurais separated themselves and walked back into the trees.

"You sensed it, ne?" Akabuke said in a low voice.

"Yes," Katsuro confirmed, looking down at several splashes of blood on the ground, "One reiatsu consumed the other."

"And that means one of two things," said Akabuke, "Either the demon killed and devoured Renji, or Renji killed the demon, but it managed to preserve itself by infecting him."

The two went silent, staring down at the drying blood and listening to the whisper of the wind in the trees.

"The king needs to know about this," said Akabuke, "I will return and speak to him. I think he will not want to unsteady the royal guardsmen with the information, lest they should hesitate at a critical moment and fail to protect the royal family."

"I understand," said Katsuro, looking back at where Kazuki stood with Byakuya, beside the dark lake, "But I am going to tell Kazuki, Byakuya and Tetsuya."

"Very well," agreed Akabuke, "But beyond them, no one. It is too dangerous. It is dangerous enough for the ones who have to know. It could be the death of us if we lower our guard at the wrong moment."

"Yes," acknowledged Katsuro, "We shall have to proceed carefully."

He watched as Akabuke flash stepped away, then sheathed his zanpakutou and returned to the lake, where Kazuki and Byakuya stood, quietly talking. They paused in their conversation as he joined them, waiting to see what he had to say. Katsuro saw the glimmer of expectation in Kazuki's eyes and gently confirmed it with his own. Then, he turned his eyes to meet Byakuya's.

"Son, we need to talk privately. Let the royal guard handle this part of the investigation and let's go back."

"But, Renji..." Byakuya objected.

"I understand your worries," acknowledged the samurai, "however, I have that to say to you which is for our ears alone. It's important, Byakuya. You need to know, and you need to know now."

The noble bit at his lips, shifting uncomfortably.

"Katsuro is right," added Kazuki, exchanging glances with the samurai again, "We need to speak privately. Come."

They turned back and followed the path Renji and the demon had made, reading the signs again as they walked in near silence back to the palace. They emerged from the forest and crossed the grass beneath the palace balconies, then followed Katsuro to Tetsuya's room.

Tetsuya loosed a sigh of relief and sought Katsuro's embrace immediately as they entered the room. Kazuki spoke briefly with the Norite and royal guardsmen, then closed the door as they were left alone in the room.

"We need to speak about what happened," Katsuro said, meeting Tetsuya's eyes, Byakuya's, then Kazuki's, "but what we say must not be heard by anyone else."

"I suspected that you knew more than you were saying," Byakuya said softly, "You noticed something out there, didn't you? You suspect something?"

"You would as well if you were not focusing so hard on what just happened. You are too caught up in the initial shock. But if you slow down and think, I think you would reason it out."

"What are you saying?" Byakuya said, his reiatsu flaring softly, "That I am too emotional? That I cannot be objective?"

"Not at all," said Kazuki, giving the samurai a look of gentle reproach, "What my son was rather clumsily stating is that we haven't had a chance yet to process, but as we do, the situation will become more clear to you. You, of all people, Byakuya know the nature of these beasts. You have been attacked by one before, and it had a powerful effect on you."

"Tetsuya and I, too, have been cut by this kind of demon," added Katsuro, glancing at his husband and noting the glimmer of understanding that rose in Tetsuya's sapphire eyes.

"Do you mean that Renji...?" Byakuya began, then his body tensed, and he stopped mid-sentence.

"They poison the soul," Katsuro said, lowering his voice, "and before one infected with their reiatsu can be healed, he must first be purged of that reiatsu. I did this when I healed you, and the healers did it when they healed me when I was injured. I did the same for Tetsuya while we were in the healing pool. And this is the thing that Renji needs most quickly."

"Then, why are we standing here discussing it and not out looking for him?" Byakuya asked stridently, "We should be doing our damnedest to find him!"

"We will," Kazuki said, soothingly, "But before we go to do that, you must understand what Akabuke and Katsuro sensed when they were down at the lake."

"Then, tell me!" Byakuya said impatiently, "Renji has already been missing for too long. If we are to have any chance of healing him, then we must find him quickly! We are wasting valuable time, standing here, talking about it, while..."

"Byakuya, we sensed that he might already have been killed or infected to the point of transition," said Katsuro.

The noble's eyes widened.

"What?"

"I know that the signs confused you," the samurai went on, "but being that both of my fathers and I are beings more familiar with the beasts of the spirit dimension, we know that when demons are threatened and do not want to be found, they can make themselves seem to disappear without a trace. The demon that was attacking all of us employed this ability several times to elude our search teams. That is what makes them so hard to track. And when we reached the lake, all of the signs disappeared, meaning that the demon used that ability again."

"But what about Renji?" asked Byakuya, "He doesn't have an ability like that!"

Katsuro swallowed hard.

"But he could have gained it from the demon...if the demon either killed and devoured him, or Renji killed the demon, but for some reason, changed at an increased speed. It suggests a violent, direct attack a demon would only use in desperation. But if it was dying, it could have forced its reiatsu into Renji's body and caused him to transform."

Byakuya's heart went cold inside him.

"You are saying that...Renji is either dead or possessed? That is what you are telling me?"

Katsuro's eyes closed for a moment, then opened and met his again.

"Renji did not leave the lake area under his own power," the samurai said with finality.

The four went silent for several painful minutes, then Kazuki continued their explanation.

"You understand why it is important not to say anything to the royal guard," he said softly, "Renji is liked and respected by those men. They would balk at killing attacking demons, because they would worry that it was him, and that they might be killing their friend. We will likely hesitate. But as family, we must take that chance. So, Akabuke has gone to the king to explain what has happened. And the king will very likely simply announce that Renji is missing, and that the search is ongoing. He will have us investigate, because we are the ones he would most likely, at least hesitate to kill. But we must be very cautious, even if we do find him. Whatever state he is in, he will be dangerous until the demon's reiatsu is purged from his systems."

"But...if Renji has already transformed, then...can he be...? Can he be saved?" Byakuya asked, flinching as Tetsuya moved closer and slipped a comforting arm around him.

"I don't know," admitted Katsuro, "When my father's uncle was devoured by the demon and trapped within the demon's body, he could not be saved, only purified, as he was, by the White Night's Enchantment. But...if Renji was infected by the demon's reiatsu and transformed, there may be a way to help him. We will need someone to explore that while we search for him."

_I will conduct the research, Tetsuya whispered into the samurai's mind, I cannot leave the palace until I have healed more completely, so I will go to the King's Archive and search for information._

Katsuro nodded.

"Very well. Tetsuya has offered to conduct the necessary research, here in the King's Archive while we search for Renji. Byakuya, as we want to get started as soon as possible, why don't you and Kazuki begin to look. I will wait for Akabuke and we will join the search as soon as he returns from his discussion with the king."

_Have them take Arashi with them, Tetsuya said, his worried eyes on his cousin, Byakuya does not want it known, but I can feel that he is in deep distress. He will need Arashi's protection._

Katsuro smiled and squeezed Tetsuya's hand affectionately.

"My lovely spouse has kindly offered the services of his stallion, for your protection."

"Thank you, Tetsuya," Byakuya said, gently returning his cousin's embrace, "We will find Renji. We will find him and we will find a way to heal him!"

Kazuki an Byakuya flash stepped out the balcony doors and down to the grass. Tetsuya and Katsuro walked out onto the balcony and watched as the two disappeared into the forest.

"Your search for information is going to be critical, watashi no koi," Katsuro said softly.

Finding him is critical too, the noble pointed out, slipping his arms around his husband, Be careful, Master Samurai. Come back to me safely.

Katsuro turned and met Tetsuya with a kiss that promised everything. The two stood solemnly on the balcony, watching the dreary sky cloud over as a storm moved in. And by the time Akabuke arrived, a light rain had begun. Katsuro left Tetsuya with a final kiss and followed Akabuke into the forest.

Tetsuya watched them disappear, then turned back and headed for the King's Archive, hating himself for the weakness that had made them leave him behind.

_But if all I can do for Renji is look for an answer that will bring him back to us...then I will find that answer, whatever it takes!_


	8. Waking up Wicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renji struggles to remember what happened to him. Tetsuya and Katsuro comfort each other.

The red haired demon rolled over, groaning and holding his head. His dry throat ached with thirst and his body burned and throbbed with intense pain. He raised himself onto clawed hands and leathery knees with an effort, and dragged himself out of the brush, where he had collapsed after fleeing the area of the palace. He spotted a small pond a short distance away, and crawled haltingly to its edge, where he first sated his intense thirst, then sat back to look down at his reflection on the gently rippling surface of the water.

Red pupiled eyes with a golden starburst center looked back at him from a tall, skeletal body clad in surprisingly smooth, leathery black skin. Wickedly fine-carved features marked an oddly comely face framed by unruly strands of red hair that seemed to fall everywhere about his head and shoulders, and down his long, slender back. While definitely a being of darkness, he was empirically, chillingly beautiful.

_What happened?_

_Why can't I remember anything...anything but that voice...that one voice calling for me?_

_I don't even remember the name he called me._

_But I remember his face._

_He was beautiful...so very beautiful. And his eyes looked frantic as he searched everywhere, calling that name so many times. So, why won't it come back to me? I know it me he was calling. But he was a shinigami...and I am...I am a..._

_A demon!_

_Why?_

He lifted his head and listened to the soft breeze that ruffled the leaves of the trees around him, to birdsong that seemed vaguely haunting and the whisper of the moving water. The air was filled with the sweet scent of water flowers, the calming breath of pine and a freshness that calmed him inside, despite the undercurrent of torment, fury and despair that boiled down deep inside him, yet seemed decidedly strange for being his own compulsions.

_What is wrong with me?_

_Because something is definitely wrong...a feeling like there's a coiled snake inside me. Something that I don't control that is just waiting to...I don't know what._

_But it is waiting for something._

His stomach rumbled, distracting him. Then, a sudden vision flashed before his eyes.

_"Abarai, I do not know what is worse...the intermittent bouts of snoring when you doze off facedown in your paperwork or the sound of whatever demon you swallowed trying to escape the confines of your abdomen..."_

_He felt a blush roar across his face and shook his head, frowning._

_"That's not nice, Captain. You know that I would have had everything done and be almost done with my lunch break and not bothering you with my stomach growling if the vice captain's meeting hadn't run late!"_

_"No," the noble countered, "You would be nearly finished with lunch had you remembered that things almost never go according to our plans and completed the work before departing for the meeting."_

_"I was training with Rikichi!" Renji complained, "You said he was my responsibility."_

_"Your 'problem,' actually," Byakuya corrected him, "because you were so insistent on him obtaining a seated position."_

_"He deserved one!"_

_"I would not have agreed to give him one, with or without your intercession if he had not earned it. But back to the matter at hand, if you will agree to work until that stack has been completed upon your return, you may go and feed that monster inside you before it devours you from the inside out," Byakuya said dryly._

_"Erm, gee, thanks Captain."_

_Byakuya's lips quirked as Renji practically flew out of his seat and out the squad room door._

_"Abarai..." Byakuya sighed, shaking his head and turning back to his own work.,/em >_

"That's weird," he said, surprised that his voice sounded odd, more grating than the one he had used in the vision, "I know that was me. But...I was...a shinigami? Was that real?"

He heard footsteps, the swish of plants being disturbed by someone, and voices.

"I thought I sensed something over this way," said a voice that sounded similar to that of the man he remembered as 'Byakuya,' but softer and slightly more gentle. This voice too was familiar, but try as he might, he could not connect it with a name. But the voice that rose up in answer was all too familiar, though it carried more emotion in it than that of 'Byakuya' in his vision.

"I sensed it too. But it is strange. It feels like him, yet unlike him."

The two came into sight, and the demon crouched within the bushes near the water and made his reiatsu blend in with his surroundings.

"Sadly, that makes sense if what we suspected has happened."

Byakuya's eyes grew tormented, but he tightened his lips and nodded .

"I imagine I knew it was that way. I knew it was unwise to hold out hope that we were wrong. I just..."

"You just love my grandson," said the other dark-haired man, "and it pains you very much to know what has befallen him. I assure you that it pains me greatly too. And you and I are going to do all that we can to find him and restore him. We will find him, Byakuya. I swear that we will. Akabuke and I did not return from death, only to lose him like this."

"No," Byakuya said softly, lowering his eyes and returning to his examination of the ground around the water.

The demon's eyes watched closely as the noble studied the area where he had first awakened.

"Something was here," the noble said firmly, "But the signs are disturbed."

"This was purposefully done," said the other noble, "It could have been him."

"Perhaps," said Byakuya, looking around and suddenly resting his troubled eyes on the demon's glowing ones that glinted from within the bushes.

He took a step towards where the demon was concealed, setting the beast's heart pounding. He ached to go to the man...to have him explain what had happened. But as he tried to move, he felt a heavy throb of hatred well up from that deeper place inside him.

_Don't! They will kill us!_

He fought the feeling of paralysis, but couldn't make himself move. Whatever it was that had taken hold of him from inside, held him tightly and forced him to keep himself concealed until the shinigamis completed their investigation and left.

The demon staggered out of the bushes, strangely drained from being under the prolonged control of the one with in him.

_Kill something._

_Eat._

The red haired demon shivered as he envisioned himself devouring the bloody, uncooked flesh of some kind of woodland animal. Although hungry, the thought sickened him, and he finally opted to drink more water and to eat several plants that he somehow remembered were safe for consumption.

_They didn't taste good, but the idea of...of that..._

The hateful voice that he had heard before returned.

_'That' is what you are now._

"Now?" the demon mused aloud.

_You will have to feed eventually. And as you do, you will forget what came before. But on to other things. This man...the one you remember. We will follow him.,/em >_

"What?" the demon whispered, "Why?"

_He is desirable, no? You...want to look at him?_

The demon swallowed hard, thinking carefully.

_He probably has answers. And I need answers. Maybe he will know what happened. Maybe he can help me.,/em >_

The wicked presence inside him scintillated with amusement.

 _Yes_ , the voice assured him, _I am sure that he can. Let us follow him_.

The red haired demon sighed and looked in the direction that the two shinigamis had gone. Then, still battling himself inside, he turned to follow them.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya stood partway up the tall, wheeled ladder that was connected to the huge bookcases, his lovely, sapphire eyes scanning the row of books, picking out two that looked promising. He held them under a pale arm as he perused the last few on the shelf, his blue eyes tired and touched with discomfort from his healing wounds.

So intent was the young shinigami on his efforts that he missed the soft swish of breeze as the door to the king's archive opened and a tall, red and silver haired samurai stepped inside and looked around. Spotting the young man standing on the ladder and sifting through the pages of one of the remaining books, he stole up behind the young noble, flash stepped up and gently trapped his slender body between the ladder and him. Tetsuya made a soft sound of surprise then flushed with anger and turned his head away as the samurai sought his lips hungrily.

"Wh-what are you doing?" demanded the young man in a angry whisper, "You nearly frightened me to death, sneaking up on me like that! And how did you?"

"Whoa!" breathed Katsuro, into the younger man's ear, raising a cute blush on the skin of Tetsuya's graceful throat, "You shouldn't be speaking, love."

"I have leave to whisper now," Tetsuya snapped, turning his pretty face away again as Katsuro tried once more to kiss him, "My healing is going well. But my search for information has been far less fulfilling, I am afraid."

"I know," confessed the samurai, coaxing the noble more gently into turning to face him, "I spoke to the king's healer, "He informed me of the lack of progress...and of your rather stubborn refusal to leave this place, even to rest as you should for the healing of your wounds."

"Renji has likely been transformed into one of the demons," Tetsuya reminded him, "I will not stop until I find a way to restore him. I may not be worth anything as a fighter right now...but..."

Katsuro stopped him with a sudden, savage, open-mouthed kiss, pressing his body against the younger man's and smiling at the dizzy sigh that escaped Tetsuya's lips as the noble felt the press of the samurai's large, hot erection through their clothes. He reeled and his eyelids fluttered as Katsuro's lips released his.

"Do not ever say such a thing again!" Katsuro said reprovingly, "You were nearly torn apart. I almost lost you before I knew the sweetness of your flesh. You have done nothing but fight to regain your strength. The healer said you were determined...hell bent, I believe he said, on getting well and joining us in our efforts. I can't thank you enough for that, my lovely Tetsuya."

"Renji is my friend...and he is beloved of my soul bonded. I will stop at nothing to see him returned to us."

"That is all good and well," Katsuro agreed, leaning forward again and reclaiming Tetsuya's warm lips, "But even so determined as we are to find and restore him, we must occasionally rest. I am returned from the search and will take it up again in the morning, and the healer has ordered that you should rest as well."

"Is that why you came to me?" Tetsuya asked, smirking, "To see that I rested?"

"Of course," Katsuro replied, his red-brown eyes twinkling with mischief, "Why did you think I had come? Perhaps to ravish you?"

Tetsuya blushed more furiously and tried to push him away as he pressed his body hard against the younger man and invaded his mouth forcefully. He managed to free his lips, but gasped and closed his eyes as Katsuro's devouring mouth attacked the pretty, pinked flesh of his throat.

"S-stop!" he hissed, "Master Samurai, we are standing on a ladder, in the king's archive, not in our bedroom! Let me go! Anyone could walk in. The king's healer has been here repeatedly to see me!"

"Has he?" asked Katsuro, arching an eyebrow, "Did he try to take advantage of you? I have seen the way that man looks at you. I'll have to kill him."

"The man is ancient!" Tetusya objected.

"That man is over five hundred years younger than me..." Katsuro whispered, smirking.

Tetsuya's eyes widened in distress.

"I am...sorry!" he stammered, "I...I didn't mean..."

"I know what you meant, love," Katsuro chuckled, "And if my lifeline wasn't so long, I would be too old for you. But...as we shall live and die together, age becomes a less relevant thing, ne?"

"I...I did not mean to imply anything like that," Tetsuya said, meeting the samurai's eyes penitently, "I do not think of you that way."

"Not as a rude, lascivious old man who desires the touch of youthful flesh to calm his torrid cravings?" Katsuro teased him.

"Well," Tetsuya said, wondering if his skin was capable of flushing any more deeply red, "Our years are different...and that means that we can expect to die around the same time. Your body is beautiful and strong, Master Samurai."

He slipped the hair tie out of Katsuro's thick hair and unbraided it with trembling fingers.

"Your hair is like fine silk and your eyes are bright and full of life. Whatever your age, you enchant me. I love you. Please forgive me for insulting you. It was unintentional."

"I don't know," Katsuro said, brushing their lips together, "I think I will have to extract something from you as payment."

"Oh..."

"Make love to me," the samurai said, trapping the younger man's body again, "Make love to me right here, on this ladder, in the king's archive, where anyone could walk in and see us. Do this and I will forget your rather careless words, love."

Tetsuya frowned and his eyes narrowed.

"You said you were not offended," he reminded Katsuro, "but you wish to punish me anyway?"

"Do you like being punished?" the samurai said, licking Tetsuya's earlobe, then pulling the tie on the noble's yukata free and slipping his hands beneath it.

"Stop that!" Tetsuya snapped, swatting at his meandering hands, "Someone could see!"

"Let them look all they want," Katsuro said amorously, "But you belong to me, Tetsuya Kuchiki! The only hands that will ever touch you again are these, the only mouth to ravish yours will be this one."

"I would that the only eyes that would see me naked would be yours as well!" Tetsuya insisted.

Katsuro's eyes fastened on Tetsuya's, freezing the younger man in place and seeming to lay a spell over his stunned mind.

"I am proud to have the heart of one so beautiful," said the samurai, sliding down step by step and making a line of hot, wet kisses down Tetsuya's bared torso, "Inside and out, head to toe, body, mind and heart...you are mine, Tetsuya. And that is a joy I couldn't have imagined."

"What about your 'Tama?'" Tetsuya asked breathlessly as Katsuro's mouth continued to work its way downward, "I know that you loved him. Did that not bring you joy as well?"

Katsuro paused, lifting his lips from the noble's soft belly and looking up into Tetsuya's blue eyes again.

"I did come to love Tama, and it was a mutual love. I do miss him, and...I am sorry that we were parted. But...even as we did learn to love each other, we knew that we had little choice in our union, so love was a choice we made."

He rested his face against Tetsuya's pale abdomen and closed his eyes for a moment.

"You...were not a choice," he confessed, his words holding Tetsuya spellbound as he continued, "You were...like the moon rising in a black, starless sky...so white and enthralling, Tetsuya! I couldn't look away. I couldn't stop myself from desiring you, from loving you instantly, and pursuing you wantonly. You invaded my soul and made it your slave. And all this rogue slave wants to do now is to love you. Let me love you...here, now, this way...then every other place and time and way that comes to us."

Tetsuya stared wordlessly as Katsuro's mouth continued its slow, methodical descent down his body. His gaze softened and his hands moved, sinking his fingers into the samurai's wild, red mane and watching raptly as that warm, desirous mouth feasted adoringly on his tender flesh. Sweat broke out on his forehead as that wonderful mouth kissed its was down the line of fine hair leading to his thick, damp arousal, pausing to scent him, to indulge in a taste of his sweet, youthful essence, then moving lower to tease the soft sac at the base of his erection, and even further, to probe and explore the entrance into the noble that no one but he had, or ever would breach...that sacred place that gave them both such pleasure whenever the samurai claimed it and made it his own.

"K-katsuro...watashi no koi!" Tetsuya moaned, surprised at how he couldn't make himself whisper, not even to spare his injured throat.

The samurai returned to his mouth quickly, stopping his utterances by invading his mouth and then chuckling as the younger men eagerly sought his own taste that still clung to the older man's lips and tongue. Tetsuya's words faded into softer, incoherent moans and his scattered thoughts fell like tumbling leaves into Katsuro's mind.

 _Such heat..._ he thought as Katsuro shifted and began a torturously slow, methodical entrance, _Like the sun that never touched my inner world before he came to me...like an inferno that threatens to melt me from the inside out!_

_Why does he move so very slowly?_

_Does he want to make me insane? I would be pleading if his mouth wasn't so heavily clasping mine. He acts, even as he undoes me, to protect my dignity. He calls himself a slave to his love for me, but I am the one enslaved. My heart freezes at his glance. My body warms at his touch. And even if my lips refuse him, my heart screams 'yes...and yes...and yes!' A lowly whore to his deep passions, I could drown in my own when we are together. If the world knew what this man made me feel inside when he touches me, I could never show my face again. My eyes could never meet another's but his for the wicked truths he brings out in me. Truly, I am a horrid creature...made in a pristine body and only pretending to be pure. I thought I was innocent before I became his...but...there is nothing of innocence left in me now..._

_He has made all signs of it disappear._

_And as much as I have fallen and am still falling for him..._

_I feel nothing but the deepest gratitude._

Katsuro's hips moved, and Tetsuya's legs curled around the samurai's strong body, while the older man gripped the hard sides of the ladder, thrusting hard and fast into that tight, clinging little piece of heaven that was his alone. He panted the noble's name and laid his sweaty cheek against the younger man's, smiling at hearing his own name released almost breathlessly. Tetsuya's hands held on to him almost desperately, the sweet, sapphire eyes half-lidded and lost in pleasure, stirring again only as flames of pleasure licked at the young man's insides, making him moan and pant shamelessly, forgetting completely for a moment, where they were.

Nothing existed but for himself and the man that had had claimed him, body, heart and soul.

He bit down on the samurai's sweat-slicked shoulder, holding back screams of pleasure that instead, rocketed through their connected minds as their joined bodies shuddered and blazing heat filled Tetsuya inside. He felt his own hot release pulse onto their skin and nearly sobbed as the samurai's length slid out of him again and that pleasant erotic mouth moved to lick away the signs of their passionate exchange.

Pleasure and weariness collided inside the young noble, making his eyes blink and close as Katsuro held on to him and brought the two of them gently down onto the floor. He lifted the overcome noble into his arms and carried him back across the room. Tetsuya blushed at seeing a slip of paper on the archive table...a list of sources that the healer had to have delivered in the midst of their heated lovemaking. He sighed and shoved the thought aside.

_I am sure that he is well acquainted with the king's spirited samurai and his sometimes shocking behavior..._

He flinched and smiled as Katsuro replied in his mind.

_Sadly, yes, my bad behavior is no secret here. But mine is a free spirited family, our energy devoted to protecting our king with all of our strength...this passion spilling over into the other parts of our lives. I will try not to fluster you too much with my misbehavior. But I will not promise to change...nor will I desire that you should._

_I love you._

_I treasure you._

_I will never leave you._

He kissed away a happy tear that found its way onto Tetsuya's relaxed and happy face, then carried him to his room and laid him down in his bed.

"May I lie down with you?" he asked softly, "Or will I distract you too much from your rest?"

"You are my beloved," Tetsuya whispered, "You are with me wherever you lie down. So, stay with me. I won't feel warm except with your body wrapped around mine."

Katsuro smiled and settled down next to Tetsuya, pulling him close and kissing him on the tip of his nose as the noble brought his head to rest in a nest of flaming red hair.

"Rest well, Master Samurai," Tetsuya breathed sleepily, "We will resume our efforts to find and help Renji at first light."

"At first light," Katsuro agreed.

XXXXXXXXXX

Byakuya stood silently on the balcony outside his and Renji's room, leaned on the railing and staring blankly down into the forest.

_Where are you?_

_Where are you, Renji?_

_Your children and I need you. We need you to come back, Renji. I cannot bear to think of what has happened to you. I remember just the threat of that wickedness that found its way beneath my skin when the demon attacked me...and I cannot imagine the pain you are in, having been overcome by that wickedness._

_But inside...you are strong. You have always been strong...stronger than me. You only need to feel our love so that you remember us and try to come back._

_Come back to us, Renji._

_Come back to us._

_Please don't leave me now...not after everything it took to get to this wonderful place called 'love.'_

_I love you, no matter what you have become._

_And I will keep hope alive for us until you are home...or until the life has been bled out of my body._

_Come back to us Renji._

_Come back to us.,/em >_

_Please come home..._

He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder and turned to find Kazuki and Akabuke standing behind him.

"You must try to sleep," said his lovely, noble forebear, "We will leave at first light to search for him again."

"Of course," Byakuya said softly, turning to follow them back inside.

Fierce, red-golden eyes watched closely until the doors had closed between them.

_You see, said the strange voice inside the red haired demon's confused mind, He yearns for us. He longs for our return. It would be cruel to keep him waiting forever, ne? If we are his one desire, let us find him alone and give him what he craves. He is guarded now, but they cannot watch him all of the time._

_We shall remain close to him._

_We shall watch him._

_And when our chance comes, we shall take him._

"Renji," the demon whispered, watching as the light in Byakuya's room went out, "He called me Renji."


	9. Soul Calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demon possessed Renji takes aim on a devastated Byakuya...

Byakuya laid in his bed, trying to drift off, but oddly cold and empty inside. And he wondered how it could be that he had become so attached to the feel of strong, warm tattooed arms embracing him, firm, hungry lips attacking his, and Renji's rough purring voice tickling his senses as he drifted off.

_At first, I couldn't imagine that we would ever fall in love...but now...now I can't imagine life without him._

_Renji..._

He left his bed and walked on silent feet to the balcony. Opening the glass doors, he stepped outside and looked up into the night sky, his eyes wide and moon drenched, his heart achingly empty and his body shivering softly with the nighttime chill. He heard an owl hoot, a breath of wind through the trees, and the splash of something in the nearby pond.

_It is the kind of night when he would wake to find me standing out here stargazing. He would climb out of bed and leave his yukata opened, walk out here and wrap his arms around me from behind. I would feel those rough lips on the flesh of my throat, hear the rumble of his voice in my ear and the hot brush of his breath on my skin. I would fall instantly under his spell...take his hand and follow him back to our bed. And what would follow would be something more scintillating than the millions of stars overhead, more rapturous than the wild energies of the full moon, and more fulfilling than the sweet air filling my lungs and bringing me to life._

_Renji...please come back to me!_

_I was nearly dead inside when you brought me back to life. I was lost in my pain when you took my hand and led me back into beautiful light. I knew only emptiness of body, mind and heart until you filled me with your love. I do not want to believe that could disappear._

_I am trying to endure, but the weight of losing you brings me to my knees. If losing Hisana was heartbreaking, then losing this one whose heart beats with mine is more shattering still. I do not know how this heart will continue to beat without yours alongside it._

_Come back, Renji._

_Don't leave me alone._

"Byakuya."

The noble froze.

The air seemed to have gone still and icy all around him. He stood alone on the balcony, outside his room, his eyes scanning the area as he realized how quiet it had become. The stars up above him still shined fiercely, but silence had swallowed up the evening noises and left everything with an eerily vacant feeling.

_Someone said my name..._

He glanced at the guards posted in the area then, reassured by their presence, he looked back into the room he had shared with Renji. It was still as cold and dark and empty as it had been while he had tried to fall asleep.

But his heart, he thought, his hand touching his pale breast where his yukata revealed it, felt the presence of someone else...someone...

"Renji."

His lips moved and he knew he should have heard some sound. But everything was so still and silent and chilling. He closed his eyes and felt icy arms encircle him. Dangerous, red-golden eyes glared into his, and a ghostly voice hissed in his ear, warning him not to make a sound. He was swiftly incapacitated and lifted into strong, leathery arms...carried down off of his balcony and into the forest as the guards around the palace watched, unseeing.

_We were fooling ourselves, Byakuya mused, fully expecting now that he was going to die, We gathered together, thinking there was safety in numbers, but for me, all safety ended when he was taken. So easily, they have taken me...right from under the noses of the watchful guards and without me making a sound or putting up a fight. They only had to..._

His eyes looked up into the face of the one who held him.

_Oh...oh Renji, they only had to use you, and I was made defenseless! Even twisted and made over into one of them, you still resonate all through me! Did they know? Is that why they did it this way? Did they know how quickly I would lower my defenses when I sensed you?_

_And what will you do now?_

_Will you hurt me? Will you kill me? Will you devour me? Will you make me one of them too? Renji...Renji, why is this happening? Please, Renji..._

_Please say something!_

The deadly, red-golden eyes shifted and locked on his, making Byakuya feel as though the life had drained out of his unmoving body. He ached to scream, but could only stare wordlessly, back into those eyes, lost in uncertainty. The demon that his lover had become dropped down onto the bank of the lake, near where they had been searching earlier, and the demon snarled at him warningly.

"No noise now, no sound...or I will kill you!"

They stood in a cluster of bushes, near the water, the only sound being the hissing breaths of the demon. It set Byakuya on his feet, then quickly sealed away his powers and bound his wrists in front of him with a binding spell. It looked back in the direction that they had come, growling softly and sniffing the air.

"Renji," Byakuya whispered, almost soundlessly.

He froze as the demon grabbed him, and a clawed hand wrapped around his throat.

"Be quiet!" the demon warned him again, "We are being tracked."

"Who...?" Byakuya began.

He felt a heavy shock strike his body, and then he was falling into the arms of the furious demon again.

"I told you not to make a sound!" the demon growled, holding Byakuya against him and glaring back in the direction of the palace.

Unable to move now, Byakuya could only gaze silently up at the demon's dark, leathery face. New shock flooded his already immobilized form at the way his lover had been transformed.

Renji's basic body shape had thinned and lost its fullness, its sculpted, muscular look made stark and bony and leathery, black skin stretching over it. Where his skin had been tattooed, the markings still remained, but a darker black on the black of his skin, so they weren't so obvious. The long, red hair was longer, but even less controlled. The warm, red-brown eyes were narrowed and turned a bloodier red, mingled with dangerous, glinting gold. The hands that had been such a comfort to the noble, now ended in sharp claws, and he wore no clothing. Strangely, though corrupted and made over into a demon, Byakuya was stricken with just how beautiful the man remained.

Renji!

As though he could hear his captive's thoughts, Renji glanced down at him. Byakuya met the fierce, glaring eyes fearlessly, trying desperately to connect with the man who had been his lover, who was the father of their children, and the warm center of many lives.

_Renji, why are you doing this?_

_What has happened to you?_

"Why are you staring at me like that?" the demon asked.

A chill went through the still defenseless noble at the way the demon's voice seemed to carry both something of Renji's own voice, yet the hiss of another, blacker soul beneath it.

_So...there is a demon soul in him? Byakuya wondered, It is his body, but the demon has gotten inside him and corrupted him?_

_How, then, do I reach him?_

He tried to move his lips, to speak again, but he remained in the grip of the enchantment that had been placed upon him. He had no choice, but to lie still, gazing silently up at the demonized redhead's wickedly beautiful face, wondering what his fate would be.

_Are you going to kill me right away? he wondered, But, if you were, you could have slain me where I stood. I feel something different...a desperation in the arms that hold me. But alongside that, there is a deep, seething hatred I believe must be the demon inside him._

_What can I do?_

_How can I reach him and pull him free of that devil?_

The demon turned and broke into a run, swiftly leaving the lake area behind and moving deep into the trees. The moonlight blocked out by the tall pines, Byakuya could only make out the dim outline of Renji's face now, and catch flashes of the malevolent eyes when the moonlight peeked through and lit them. They moved through the trees and out again into a rocky, mountainous area, where he could see that there were clusters of dark caves. The demon ran in among them and angled towards one set high in the side of a tall cliff.

_And with my powers sealed, he only has to drop me from that height and this is over. I am going to have to be exceedingly careful. With the demon within him, Renji won't be in complete control. If he was in control, he wouldn't have ever agreed to take me from the palace. No...I think the demon part of him compelled him to do it, for some reason. I believe that the demon wants him to devour me...but what else could be his goal? Is the demon in Renji the one who attacked Tetsuya and the others? If so, grabbing me could only be the beginning._

_Kazuki and Akabuke..._

_Katsuro and Tetsuya..._

_They could all be in the same danger!_

He broke out of his reverie as The demon came to a stop inside the cliff-edge cave. He dropped Byakuya carelessly on the cave floor, ignoring the sound of pain he made as his body crashed down and landed with bruising force. The demon returned to the cave entrance, crouching near it and looking out of the entrance, the moon striking his red-golden eyes and bringing out their full wickedness.

_Renji, how could we have come to this?_

Unable to move, Byakuya gazed at his transformed husband's crouched form, wondering darkly...

_After everything we have endured together, will it be your hand that finally steals the life from my body? And if it happens that way, will that be the thing that darkens your soul and makes you one of them forever?_

XXXXXXXXXX

Kazuki stirred, where he laid on his stomach with Akabuke's handsome, naked body sprawled languidly across his back, the samurai's length still inside him, and the fingers of one hand laced together with his lover's. His blue eyes opened and blinked slowly as he registered a coldness that went beyond what chill there might be in the air.

"Akabuke!" he exclaimed softly, making the samurai's eyes open and the man's body tense.

"What is it?" Akabuke asked.

The two sat up, looking around in the darkness.

"The demon?" Akabuke queried, sliding out of bed and hurriedly dressing in a yukata.

Kazuki nodded, rising out of the bed and dressing as well. The two collected their swords and moved silently to the balcony doors. They peeked out, watching breathlessly for several minutes.

"The guards are still there," mouthed Kazuki, "but still...I feel something."

"I do as well," agreed the samurai.

"I am going to go and check on Byakuya," said the noble.

"Not without me, you're not," Akabuke said firmly, "These demons are horrendously dangerous. I would not lose you again to one of them."

Kazuki gave him a melting smile.

"I will not leave you," he promised, "Come, my love."

XXXXXXXXXX

Katsuro laid back quietly against the pillows in Tetsuya's bed, with his sleeping husband's back rested gently against his chest, and Tetsuya's slender arm curled over the samurai's shoulder and around his neck. The young man's comely face was tucked sweetly beneath his chin, but Katsuro could still see the lovely, finely sculpted profile as Tetsuya slept and the samurai's hands continued to touch and caress him.

_Poor thing, barely sleeps as it is. Injured as he is, I should be merciful and just let him sleep. But, what is this incredible selfishness in me that makes me tease him so? What makes me feel such pleasure when that pretty blush rises on his flesh? And why, even knowing he should rest and not be bothered, do I still feel tempted to make love to him again...and again...and yet again?_

_Such lovely creatures, these Kuchikis..._

_And yet, it stopped being about that some time ago, didn't it? Kuchiki or no, Tetsuya is so enchanting...so lively and unspoiled. So different from anyone else I know._

_Yes...I had begun to become so cynical and jaded as life stole away the people I cared about. Then, this one came along and made everything more bearable. And having done that, he didn't stop there, but made my life warm and beautiful again. And now, our inner worlds are joined, and the hearts inside us beat together. We live and breathe as one...and I could not be any happier!_

He paused and took a soft breath, closing his eyes as he registered the gentle scent of sakura that always surrounded the Kuchiki nobles. He let his fingers slide slowly over Tetsuya's bared chest, where his yukata laid open, then slid them down over the young man's soft belly, drawing a sleepy sigh and a soft, pleased moan as he tenderly explored his sleeping mate's warm, flaccid genitals.

Tetsuya's lips moved, and a few broken words escaped him, making Katsuro smile as he continued to gently stimulate Tetsuya's soft member, until it thickened and hardened under his hand. Tetsuya sighed and his eyes moved beneath his closed eyelids as he began to dream. Katsuro watched until he couldn't resist anymore, then turned his head slightly and availed himself of the sleeping noble's warm mouth. Tetsuya's eyes remained closed, but he smiled at the slow, passionate invasion of his mouth, and even slower, more methodical partaking of his body.

"I am sorry," Katsuro whispered against his mate's sweet lips, "I can't seem to resist you, even when I should...not that we Akabuke's are known for our self-restraint or anything of that nature, but it is wrong of me, while you are still healing."

"I am fine," Tetsuya assured him, parting his thighs and welcoming the samurai's hot member into his body, "Do not feel that you need to hold back. I have been alone for so long and only dreaming of being desired this way. And in the most wonderful of my dreams, I never met anyone like you. I am yours, Master Samurai."

Katsuro started to answer, but went rigid a moment later as the touch of a malevolent reiatsu brushed against his senses. One moment, he was poised atop Tetsuya's yielded body, and the next, the two were scrambling out of bed and reaching for their blades.

"Stay close to me," The red-haired samurai warned Tetsuya, "I would have you remain here, but these demons seem to slip in, even past our best defenses."

"I understand," Tetsuya replied, following his mate out of the room and in the direction of Byakuya and Renji's suite.

Katsuro's grip on his sword tightened as they spotted two dark forms ahead of them, but relaxed again as he realized it was his two fathers.

"You sensed it too?" queried Kazuki.

"Yes," Katsuro said, nodding and knocking lightly on Byakuya's bedroom door.

Hearing no answer, he turned the handle and opened the door. The four men froze, ice flooding their veins as they encountered the empty room and the strong burn of a demon presence.

"How did this happen?" Tetsuya breathed, his face going white, "There were guards outside..."

"He likely used stealth to get in and his special ability to escape their eyes on the way out," said Katsuro, shaking his head, then looking down at the sword in his hand.

"And now, he had Byakuya," Akabuke said darkly.

"What do you think he will do?" asked Kazuki.

Katsuro and Akabuke exchanged measured glances.

"That he took Byakuya and did not kill him here is significant," said Akabuke.

"It suggests that the demon is confusing Renji's mind, but that he has some amount of ability to resist," explained Katsuro, "But even so...we need to find Byakuya quickly. Every moment counts."

They started towards the balcony, but then Katsuro turned back and stopped Tetsuya near the open doors.

"I am sorry to leave you again," he said softly, "But you know that you are not up to fighting yet."

"Then, I will let Arashi and you do the fighting," Tetsuya said, frowning, "But I am going."

Katsuro started to object, but was stopped by the touch of Kazuki's hand on his wrist.

"Let him come, segare," he said quietly, "If the demon slipped past the guards, then he is safer with us, anyway."

Katsuro scowled, but tightened his lips and nodded.

"Fine, but you keep to what you said. Do not leave Arashi's back for a moment. And if there is trouble, turn him back towards the palace and don't stop until you get there!"

Tetsuya nodded in agreement, then followed the others out to where Arashi already stood waiting. Katsuro helped the still-healing noble onto the stallion's back, then mounted behind him and held on tightly as Arashi plunged into the forest.


	10. Seeing Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya works to reach Renji as the others search desperately for the two of them.

Byakuya woke to find himself in darkness and shivering with cold. His bound hands had been fastened to some sort of fixture on the floor of the cave, and he had been left lying in what looked to be a nest of field grasses. But there was nothing there to help him maintain his body warmth as the chill of night wrapped around him. He moaned softly and peered into the blackness, looking for some sign of Renji, but found that he had been left alone. And suddenly considering that Renji might not be the only demon in the area, he felt deeply vulnerable. He heard a soft, scraping sound that left him with a feeling of dread that made even the deep coldness disappear as something approached the cave.

He felt a quiver of relief at it being Renji who, even though turned demonic and certainly working at a plan that would involve him dying at some point, had reason of some kind not to kill him at the moment, and in fact, wanted him to live to serve his purposes. He avoided the dreaded pitfall of considering what those purposes could be, and instead focused on trying to make some connection with his possessed lover.

Renji remained crouched near the cave entrance for a time, watching the area below with malevolent eyes. Then, he loosed a soft growl and set some kind of kido in place at the opening, which Byakuya reasoned might either hide their presence or simply warn off other aggressors. He moved to the back of the cave, where Byakuya laid bound and glared down at him.

"R-renji?" Byakuya whispered, looking back at him cautiously.

The demon bared his teeth warningly.

"Shut up," he growled, reaching down to check the binding on the noble's slender wrists.

Byakuya went silent and just looked up into the dangerous red-golden eyes and fierce expression as the demon finished checking his bonds, then laid down and curled his naked, leathery body around Byakuya's. And to the noble's surprise, the demon's body was not cold, but instead, radiated intense heat, making the uncomfortable chill in his own body disappear almost instantly.

He shivered, not from cold, but from uncertainty as the beast breathed in the sakura scent of his hair and flesh, then bared his teeth and brushed his fangs against Byakuya's pale throat.

"Why are you doing this?" Byakuya asked, making the demon snarl warningly and curl his clawed fingers tightly into the noble's hair.

Byakuya winced and sucked in a pained breath.

"I told you to shut up," the beast said shortly, continuing to run his teeth along the noble's vulnerable flesh.

Byakuya flinched as the demon's tongue followed the path his tongue had taken, and he whined softly, ending in a wanton growl.

"Renji...Renji, can you...?" Byakuya whispered.

He let out a pained cry as the demon grabbed him, letting its nails dig into his skin as he turned the noble onto his back and laid his body on top of Byakuya's. Byakuya stared, wide-eyed into the demon's red-golden orbs, searching for any sign of Renji's presence there. One of the demon's clawed hands wrapped around his throat, and the beast bared his fangs. He let out a snarling hiss and struck the noble on one cheek, making it redden and forcing a sharp gasp from his captive. Then, he tightened the hand that was wrapped around Byakuya's slender throat until the noble made a choked sound of distress.

"I have possessed your lover's body," the demon said in a low, malevolent voice, "He will not answer you. So give it up and just lie there quietly. I'm not going to kill you yet."

Byakuya shivered, but took a steadying breath and forced himself to relax. With his sign of submission, the hand around his throat loosened, and he found that he could breathe easier.

"Will you not at least tell me why it is that I will die?" Byakuya asked, "And while I accept that you have chosen this fate for me, what is to be my husband's fate?"

He flinched at the scathing glare the words earned him. But to his surprise, the demon's body relaxed a moment later, and his hand slid down Byakuya's soft, slender back and curled lightly around his bottom.

"You are one of the nobles, no?" he said quietly, "You know about debts of honor, matters of duty?"

"I do."

"Well, would it surprise you to know that there is honor among demons as well? That, like you and your lover, we form powerful alliances, make bonds to strengthen ourselves so that we become formidable? It was this kind of bond that your bastard noble ancestor shattered when he dispatched my mate."

Byakuya caught his breath softly.

"The demon that Kazuki killed..."

"That was my mate," the demon confirmed, "That noble wretch murdered him and I am going to kill that man for that. But killing him wouldn't be enough to erase the sting of what he did...the insult to our honor. So...Kazuki Kuchiki will lose more than his own life! His samurai mate, His son and son-in-law, and you, he will lose entirely. And...I will keep the demonized body of this samurai, and then when the king has lost his protective samurai line...I will kill him as well. Only then will my bloodlust be satisfied!"

Byakuya paused and considered his words carefully.

"You must have loved your mate very deeply to feel the need for such devastating vengeance," he commented finally.

The demon gave him an odd look.

"Love?" he repeated loathingly, "I think you forget who we are, young transcendent. It is you who relies on that weakening of self that is required for love to exist. As demons, we will not lower ourselves...sacrifice power to feed such a silly thing as emotion. Do you understand? Emotion is why we demons continue to flourish. You, the shinigamis, the humans, and even the hollows...all have their root in the growing, controlling, exchange and release of emotions. We demons crave something different. We crave power. And it is power that is at the center of our binding. My mate and I combined our abilities, and together, we became horribly powerful. When your ancestor murdered my mate, he not only took that soul, but the power that soul added to mine. It wasn't just an assault on my mate, but it was an attack on me as well...one aimed at weakening me. But...Kazuki Kuchiki is about to learn the difference between a demon soul and his own transcendent one. Were I to kill his mate, that man would search me out and make me pay for my transgression with my life, based on his emotions. But because this man has stolen my mate's life, and thus denied my mate and me power that belonged to us...and further, that he stole the power of the ones we would bear...his debt is much greater than just the taking of one life. Honor demands that he pay for that greater debt. So, this is how I will make him pay."

"So...demon lovers do not bind themselves together based on love?" Byakuya asked, "But there is love between you, ne? You...make love with each other for pleasure, no? You create a family?"

"We bind our bodies with others to increase our power and status among our kin," explained the demon, "We join our bodies and make children that are meant to be stronger than we are, so that they will bind with partners that will make them stronger still. And someday, we will be strong enough to overthrow that ridiculous king and empty this place of the transcendents! And when we are, you can be sure that, even then, we will resist the lure of emotion that will have caused your downfall."

"I see," said Byakuya, lowering his eyes, "You are very different from us. Despite the circumstances, it is good to have some understanding of you."

The demon looked at him questioningly.

"This will ease your emotions as you die?" he asked, sliding a claw down the noble's pretty, white cheek, "This will make you more accepting of your unavoidable fate?"

Byakuya's heart began to race as an idea came into his mind.

"I am not afraid to die as such, but I am concerned that my husband is to be alive, but in torment. It makes me curious. Why did you choose Renji? Why did you not merely possess Kazuki and force him to harm all of us, himself?"

The demon's eyes darkened.

"Because your mate killed me. He killed me, and as I began to die, I sent my reiatsu into his body so that I might live. I gained control..."

"But even then, you could have used him to then attack and possess Kazuki, could you not?"

"No."

"You could not possess Kazuki Kuchiki?" Byakuya asked, "Why not?"

The demon scowled.

"Enough talk!" he said coarsely, "You will not be useful if you are weak from lack of sleep. Go to sleep. You have my assurance that I will not kill you, just yet. And you have your lover's body to comfort you so that you needn't be overly emotional."

"I need to feel Renji's soul," Byakuya requested, "Please, I will not ask for anything else and will sleep after..."

He fully expected a punishment for the request, a seething reply delivered with some inflicting of pain. But he stared in surprise as some of the malevolence went out of the demon's dark face, and more familiar looking eyes looked back at him.

"Renji!" he mouthed breathlessly.

He felt the change in the manner in which he was held...more cautious hands that were wary of harming him with the sharp claws. And the lips that kissed his matched the tragically longing eyes.

"Byakuya..." Renji said softly, "Byakuya, I am...sorry."

The noble's eyes dampened, but he held the tears back and offered his devastated husband a tender kiss of greeting.

"You have done nothing to be sorry for," Byakuya assured him, "I am...glad that you are still alive, Renji."

"I may be alive," said the redhead, "but that damned thing is wrapped around my soul now. I've tried, but I have so little control! I don't know how to force it out of my body!"

Byakuya bit at his lip, knowing better to reveal to Renji any part of their plans.

"Do not worry, watashi no koi," he whispered, curling more firmly into Renji's arms, "We will find a way."

"How can you say that?" the redhead said, sadly, "You can't know..."

"My heart tells me we will find a way," Byakuya assured him, "And now, while we are together, I...I want to be with my lover."

"What?" Renji asked, frowning, "Byakuya...I have a demon fused with my soul! I'm not even..."

"You are still the one I love," the noble insisted, capturing his lips and feeding him several hungry kisses, "Please, Renji...I have ached for you ever since you disappeared. I feel like I have been slowly dying inside. Come into me, Renji. Let me feel that I am not alone..."

He opened his yukata so that his slender, lovely body was exposed. Renji swallowed hard, feeling the furious swell of the demon's presence.

"But...he could take control while we...while we are...!"

"I don't care," said Byakuya, "I just...need to be with you, Renji...please."

Renji looked back at him with tormented eyes.

"I won't let him hurt you," he insisted, "And opening yourself to him that way...he could..."

"He said that he was not going to kill me yet," Byakuya reasoned, "And he gave us this time together. Let us not waste it, Renji. It...may be all we have left..."

Renji's eyes closed for a moment, and his lips quivered as he struggled with his emotions. Byakuya used his distraction to pull Renji into a long, penetrating kiss that made Renji's heart pound harder and caused an instant reaction in his body.

_Yes..., thought the noble, This demon claims to only concern himself with matters of power. They think of power the way that we think of love. Still, he has invaded a body that is still at least part shinigami transcendent. That could make him vulnerable to emotion..._

"Renji!" he moaned, moving his body against the one on top of it, "Renji, make love to me..."

He felt the heated swell of his possessed lover's arousal, where it pressed against his, telling him that even under the power of the demon, Renji's body still reacted to him. And his suspicion was confirmed as Renji's body went taut on top of him, and the demon took control again, glaring down at Byakuya with pure hatred.

"Enough," he said darkly, "Sleep."

A heavy jolt of power shot through the noble's body, sending him crashing into senselessness.

But even under the demon's control, Renji's body remained aroused, and the flickering emotions teased the demon into tasting the noble's soft, unresisting lips and running his hands slowly over the lovely, perfect, white flesh.

"You think I am the demon," he whispered into the unconscious noble's ear, "Byakuya Kuchiki, you put a devil like me to shame with your deceptions."

An unbidden smile touched his lips.

"No wonder he is so completely enchanted..."

XXXXXXXXXX

"We've lost the trail again," Katsuro said darkly, "And this makes the second successful abduction."

He glanced back at Tetsuya, who had laid down on Arashi's warm back to rest.

"It is a torment to the heart," he went on, "and it makes me wonder if we weren't better off when he was only trying to kill us."

"I agree that the abductions have changed the nature of things," added Akabuke, meeting Kazuki's eyes for a moment, then looking back at his son and the younger samurai's weary mate, "and I think that we must watch over each other carefully. But...I do not think that the trail here is necessarily lost. I intend to continue searching."

Katsuro's eyes rested on Tetsuya again, and his hand trembled softly where it held on to his blade.

"I will go with you."

He turned to Kazuki.

"Will you take him back to the palace and watch over him for me?"

Kazuki met Katsuro's eyes warmly.

"Of course, Segare," he answered, nodding, "I will not let him out of my sight. Not for a moment."

"Thank you, Father," Katsuro said gratefully.

He and Akabuke watched quietly as Kazuki joined Tetsuya on Arashi's back, and the two started back towards the distant palace.

"Thank you," Akabuke said solemnly.

"For what?" asked Katsuro, sheathing his blade, "For parting the two of you, yet again?"

"Do not be ridiculous," Akabuke answered, shaking his head, "The reason I was thanking you was...because it becomes even more dangerous for them to accompany us. Segare, have you not yet realized?"

Katsuro frowned.

"Realized?" he repeated softly, glancing again in the direction their mates had gone.

A moment later, he made the connection, and his red-brown eyes widened with intense happiness.

"Tetsuya," he whispered in a low, sweetly reverent voice.

"The almost unquenchable desire you have felt for him lately...though indeed, you hungered amply for him before...the weariness about him that is more than just his recovery from recent injury, and I am sure there are a hundred other small things."

"Yes," Katsuro mused, his eyes softening and his lips smiling beautifully, "I see it now."

"And it means that we have even more to protect, ne?"

"We? You mean that...?"

"Yes. Kazuki, too, is with child. And it means that we must make our moves very, very carefully."

"We will," Katsuro said, his eyes closing for a moment, and then opening bearing an even deeper resolve, "We are going to find Renji and stop this demon. And by kami, we are going to bring everyone home safely."

"Yes," said Akabuke, taking his blade in hand and drawing it carefully across his palm, "We are."

Katsuro watched in silence, then repeated the action with his own weapon and palm. He extended his cut hand and Akabuke clasped it together with his.

"The blood oath of the King's Samurai is taken," Akabuke said, his reiatsu swelling around the two and making Katsuro's come to life in response, "As is the way of his majesty's samurai, you and I will succeed in this."

"And not even death, itself, will stop us," Katsuro finished, watching the reiatsu around them flare brightly and then die.

"Come, segare," Akabuke said, turning away.

Two blistering flash steps sounded, and a moment later, the clearing they had occupied stood empty.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I am sorry to be such a burden," Tetsuya said softly, a curtain of wavy black tresses hiding much of his pale, drawn face, "I should be stronger."

"You should be stronger?" Kazuki repeated, sounding amused, "Why, Tetsuya, what you have already endured more than makes your strength evident. But always your strong fighting spirit aches to move forward, ne? Do not torment yourself. I needed to return to the palace anyway. This is for my protection, as much as it is for yours."

Tetsuya turned his head to look at his elder curiously.

"Gomen nasai? Why did you need to return? Were you injured somehow? Are you ill? I am a healer. I can..."

"I am not ill," said Kazuki, shaking his head gently, "I believe that I 'suffer from' the same thing that slows your recovery and makes you more weary than you would normally be, considering your injuries."

Tetsuya couldn't hold back the sweet, quaking smile that touched his lips.

"But," said Kazuki, "I think that you have not confided this in Katsuro. Why?"

Tetsuya's smile faded slightly.

"He is already too focused on me. Byakuya is in danger and Renji has been possessed by that thing. I don't want him worrying about my every step as he tries to manage all of that. As soon as he knows, he will insist I be locked up with the royal children."

"But you sense that you are meant to have a greater role in what happens," Kazuki said calmly.

"I do not know," Tetsuya admitted, "But my heart tells me that there is an answer that is within my reach. So...once we return, I will go back to the king's library and will not leave it again until I find that answer!"

Kazuki smiled and nodded, slipping a warm hand into his.

"Then...if you are so determined, we will undertake that task together."

Tetsuya laughed softly.

"You aren't going to tell me that I should go to bed and rest, like he would?" he asked.

"What good would that do?" Kazuki asked, smirking, "You are a Kuchiki. And no one stands in our way, when we are thus determined, ne Tetsuya?"


	11. Demon Spawning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demon in Renji's body hatches a wicked plan.

Byakuya felt oddly gentle touches on his face and hair and quivered uncomfortably under the leathery fingertips of his demon possessed lover.

"R-renji," he whispered, as though still sleeping, a soft chill of warning going through him at the growl that sounded as he loosed the redhead's name.

Warm, rough lips nipped at his, and he opened his eyes, then inhaled sharply at the fact of not being able to see. And with his hands still securely bound to the fixture in the rocky floor of the cave, there was little he could do to know how he had been deprived of his sight.

"Don't worry," hissed the demon, "I haven't taken your eyes. I only blindfolded you to keep them from distracting me, and to keep you from trying to escape. Lie still, I will bring nourishment."

Byakuya shivered as the demon disentangled himself from his body and left him alone in the nest of field grasses, where the cold quickly seeped in. His face brushed against one extended arm and he could feel a growing heat on his skin. His body felt strangely weak and his throat almost unbearably dry.

He flinched as the demon's hands touched him again, pulling him upright, then bringing a cup of water to his lips. He nearly choked as the water struck his dry throat. He coughed several times, making his head spin uncomfortably.

 _What is this_? Byakuya wondered, _Am I becoming ill or is this an effect of something that he did to me as I slept_?

He shifted slightly and felt a chill pass through him as he registered dampness in his nether region.

_Did he...?_

"You seem out of sorts," the demon commented.

"A rather astute observation, coming from you," the noble commented, "I feel...unwell."

"Are you in pain?"

"Just achy all over, but that could be from sleeping on the hard ground."

He felt more heat rise on his skin as the demon paused and touched his face questioningly.

"You transcendent souls are quite delicate in some ways," the demon commented, "Your skin is overly soft and vulnerable to bruising. I had to try several times to touch you without causing bruising. You do not adapt well to your environment, but force your environment to adapt to you...or not."

"I suppose we differ in that you demons have been forced to adapt in order to survive. You have appreciable intelligence, bodies that have evolved to fare acceptably in a harsher environment and you have increased your overall power, as you told me, through strategic breeding."

The demon nodded.

"While your kind has relaxed in their marble halls and warm, soft beds, we have gathered here in the dark caves for hundreds or thousands of years, gathering our strength and waiting."

"Why did you bring me here?" Byakuya asked suddenly, "What is it that you wait for? Is this really about revenge? Or is this something else?"

"You ask a lot of questions," replied the demon, making the noble flinch as he brought a small piece of fruit to his lips, "That makes me angry. You should be quiet."

"Being quiet all of the time becomes lonely," Byakuya said, his lips brushing against the demon's fingers as he accepted the cool, wet offering, "I miss my mate. If you are tired of dealing with me, you could...allow us to be together for a time?"

The words elicited a snarl and the demon's claw tightened around one pale arm.

"I don't trust you, shinigami transcendent!"

"As well you should not," Byakuya agreed calmly, "We do not yet understand each other."

"What is to understand. We are enemies. We hate each other. I am going to kill you after..."

The demon chuckled softly.

"You nearly lulled me into telling you too much. You are a sly thing...very cold and beautiful. But...we demons are even colder than you."

"You mean that figuratively, of course," Byakuya commented, "Your body is very warm, and your skin is smooth, except for your hands. They are rougher."

"Do you find that repulsive?" asked the demon, stroking his cheek lightly, then sliding a claw along the fine skin just enough to draw a thin line of blood.

Byakuya winced and caught his breath, then lost it again as he felt the demon's tongue slide along the length of the small wound, healing as it went.

"I cannot say how I find you," the noble answered, his voice shaking slightly, "You are a demon, but the body you possess is that of my lover and the father of our children. I could never find him repulsive."

"Which is why, even though you hate me, your body cannot resist mine...why even as you sleep, I touch you, and your resting body feels the touch of your lover and gives in easily to it."

"Did you have sex with me while I was...sleeping?"

"Would you rather I did so while you were awake? I seem to distress you when you are awake. And although I find it enjoyable, your lover does not. To keep the balance, one must not push the other too far. We share a body now, and neither of us wants it to die."

"Why did you have sex with me?" asked Byakuya, "You said that sex was something that you demons only do to improve your power through breeding."

His covered eyes widened under the blindfold and he inhaled sharply, a jolt of surprise and fear gripping him.

"You...!"

The demon's lips came to his ear, making the skin of ear and throat flush instantly.

"You bastards stole the life of my mate. So...before I kill you, you will return that by giving me the life that my mate would have given me."

Byakuya went breathless for a moment, his heart pounding as the words echoed chillingly in his mind.

"The process usually takes a month, but by infusing your pregnant body with my reiatsu every few hours, that process can be shortened into as little as a week. The first mating primed your body and this next will seed the demon child."

"I will not survive this," Byakuya said, shaking his head, "I barely survived having our daughter, and I only had her a few..."

"You will live long enough to bear my child," The demon told him, "after which you are meant to die anyway. So, it is of no concern to me how the pregnancy affects you."

"But it matters to Renji," Byakuya reminded him, "You can ignore my emotions, certainly, but you have already admitted to me that you must keep yourselves in balance. How will you do that if my death causes Renji's body to despair?"

Byakuya caught his breath and the demon's body crashed into his suddenly and brought him down onto his back. Clawed hands gripped him menacingly and he could feel the deadly eyes glaring down at him.

This body is mine now!" the demon hissed, "And you are mine also. Your lover will shrivel and die after he sees you perish."

"No!" Byakuya said, surprising himself with the belligerence in his own words, "You could never overcome a strong person like Renji. You may have used parasitic powers to gain control for now, but he will overcome you! You...!"

Byakuya gasped as the demon snarled and wrapped a clawed hand around his throat.

"Whatever happens to your lover, your life is over."

"Is that supposed to frighten me?" Byakuya said, his reiatsu swelling under the seal the demon had placed on him, "Because it only strengthens my resolve, demon. If it is my fate to die at your hands, then I will accept my death proudly. But know this. Though I may die, I will make it my one last act of respect to free Renji, even if it should cost us all our lives!"

"Ah," the demon purred softly in his blushing ear, "So strong is the instinct of the Kuchiki family to sacrifice itself. Kazuki took my predecessor's death blow to protect the first king's samurai. And now you already make yourself ready to yield your life easily for this one. Such reckless behavior! Such a burden are useless emotions, ne? Love? Loyalty? Duty? All these things do is to set you on the path to the spilling of your blood. Such a waste for beautiful creatures such as yourselves, Kuchiki Byakuya. You should have accepted the lure of the first demon who fought you. Then death at my hands would not be your only option now."

_What?_

_Then, the fact that I was attacked by this demon's kin before means...?_

"Lie still now. No more talking. My body feels the call of yours and reaches a state of arousal. It is time."

_This demon Renji has become..._

_He is going to...?_

He gritted his teeth, shivering under the demon's hands as he was turned onto his belly and the demon laid down on his back. His thick, fiery arousal pressed almost painfully against Byakuya's lower back. He started to struggle, but was frozen in place as the demon's teeth sank into the back of his neck, make him gasp and pant harshly as his legs were forcibly parted and the demon moved into position to take him.

"Are you repulsed now?" the demon growled, sucking gently at the trickle of blood he had drawn, "Are you afraid? You should be. Know this, shinigami transcendent...this child's first breath...will be your last. You will give everything back in the making of this stronger demon. When it is born, its first act will be to slay and devour you, its own mother. It is a rite of passage. It is our way."

"It will n-never happen!" Byakuya hissed back, steeling himself, "You may think that our emotions make us weaker than you, but you are about to discover the strength in our bonds of love. Come into me, then, demon! See how quickly Renji's love for me makes him strong enough to overpower you!"

XXXXXXXXXX

"Your babies are fine," the old healer told the two gratefully smiling Kuchikis as he finished their examinations and stepped away, "They are developing perfectly. I am concerned, of course, in that you both were attacked by demons before, so we will have to watch you closely, but as yet, there are no trouble signs. Just be sure to engage in frequent periods of bonding with your spouses to keep your reiatsu and the babies' stable."

"That will be no problem," said Akabuke's deep voice from the doorway.

Kazuki and Tetsuya looked up, smiling as Akabuke entered the examination room with Katsuro at his side. Kazuki exchanged warm glances with his mate as the first king's samurai stepped forward and folded an arm around him, bringing him to his feet. Katsuro met Tetsuya's eyes with an expression that left the younger man blushing.

"So, Tetsuya Norite," he said with mock sternness, "It seems that you have been holding out on me."

"I..." Tetsuya began, his breath leaving him as he was swept off his feet and his mouth warmly invaded.

"I forgive you," the samurai said between hard, hungry kisses as he carried the younger man out of the infirmary and towards Tetsuya's quarters, "I would take you, here and now to show you how thoroughly forgiven you are, but then you might not forgive me, ne?"

"No!" Tetsuya panted, sinking deeply into the man's mouth, "Do not even think about doing such a thing, baka!"

The two stopped kissing, sobering as they reached the bedroom and stepped inside.

"Master Tetsuya! Master Samurai!" Akio said, appearing in front of them with Tetsuya bearing nightclothes for the two men, "I am so glad that you have returned safely."

"Yes, we are well," the samurai assured their attendant, "I will manage myself. You can assist Tetsuya. He is still a bit ginger moving about."

"I am fine," Tetsuya said in a flustered voice, "I am much better. But thank you, Akio. I appreciate the assistance."

"It's all right, Master Tetsuya," the attendant assured him, "I am glad to be able to finally do something for you. Since your injury, I've barely been able to do anything for you at all! I've mostly felt I was in the way."

"You are not in the way," Tetsuya assured the youth, standing patiently and trying not to flinch as he was dressed, "I am much better now. And I am grateful for your help."

"Now, if you don't mind, I would like some time alone with my lovely mate," said Katsuro, slipping an arm around Tetsuya and guiding him towards the bed, "Perhaps you might bring us something to eat and leave it outside the door?"

"Oh, of course, Master Samurai!" Akio said, smiling as he flash stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"Now then," Katsuro said, sliding his arm around Tetsuya's waist and brushing several unruly strands of silken black hair out of the younger man's eyes, "Why don't you explain to me why you felt it was necessary to keep such grand news to yourself."

Tetsuya started to speak, but was stopped as rough fingertips touched his lips, halting the words.

"But wait," the samurai went on, "I think that I understand. You feel I am overprotective? You feel suffocated?"

"No," Tetsuya said, gazing up into Katsuro's intense gaze, "I mean, you are overprotective, but I understand that."

"Then, what troubles you?"

Tetsuya reached up and pulled the tie out of his husband's bright red and silver hair, letting it fall in unrestrained waves down about his shoulders.

"It is just that sometimes your presence is so...immense. I feel like I might disappear into you. And although it is beautiful to be a part of you, I sometimes feel as though I am losing myself."

"That won't ever happen," Katsuro assured him, "All that you need is to settle in among the Norite and let yourself shine there. You will lead the Norite someday. Your captain has already said this."

"What?" Tetsuya asked, frowning in surprise.

"Don't you understand? You are not just talented, Tetsuya, you are gifted. Yemon already looks to you to be trained to replace him someday."

"B-but ever since that day...the day I was attacked, I have felt nothing but weak, nothing but useless. And yet, both you and the Norite have been at my side constantly, watching over me. How is it that you see...and they see such promise in my future when I cannot? All I see is how this joy that grows inside me, this wonderful miracle, might make me lose my resolve to excel and leave me simply wanting to be a pale shadow at your side."

Katsuro loosed a soft, growling laugh and kissed the offending words away.

"Tetsuya, my love, you will never be lost in anyone's shadow...not ever! Put these feelings aside for now. Let this lovely expression of our mutual desire grow inside you. I promise you, the moment our child first draws breath, I will be the swiftest to have you on your feet and fighting again."

Tetsuya loosed a soft, helpless laugh and kissed Katsuro's warm fingertips.

"Really?" he asked, looking up into his lover's powerful red-brown eyes, "I would think you would want me to rest after such an exertion as childbirth will be."

"Even if I did, I do not think you would listen," Katsuro chuckled, caressing the younger shinigami's face gently, "You Kuchikis are notoriously strong-willed. But your fine spirits are what drew me to you. I felt that the very moment you laid these soft hands on my body to heal me that day."

He bent his head to kiss Tetsuya's fingertips, then his lips.

"I thought that love had left me when Tama passed on. I had prepared myself to endure the loneliness calmly. But I only felt your presence and I knew that was wrong. I could become lost too, in the depths of those blue eyes, in that sinfully soft and beautiful body of yours. I might forget my duty and want to remain in your sweet embrace forever. But whatever we are to each other, Tetsuya, we are warriors. We will always return to the battlefield to protect the ones we love and serve. I will not forget that, even though I love you with all that is in me. You can have faith in that."

"I do," Tetsuya whispered, smiling up at him, "I am sorry for doubting you, Master Samurai."

Katsuro's lips quirked in amusement.

"So," he said, narrowing his eyes, "Even after I have gone to such effort to reassure you, still you try to diminish yourself by insisting upon calling me by that title and not by name."

"Katsuro..."

"Oh no," the samurai said, bringing his spouse down onto the bed, "It is much too late for that. If you will not whisper my name in my ear, I shall have to make you cry it out with passion, my love."

He paused as Tetsuya's face registered pain.

"Are you all right?" he asked quickly, "Should I call for the healer?"

"No," Tetsuya answered softly, "It isn't that. It is just that...it feels wrong...enjoying each other in that way while my lord, Byakuya, is missing and Renji has been possessed by that demon. I do not know how to make myself fall asleep sometimes."

Katsuro's smile faded and he nodded in understanding.

"I feel the same. But, if my long years and what losses I have taken have taught me anything, Tetsuya, it is to embrace what is given with a full heart. We don't know how long our love will last, but every day is a gift. Do not overlook that gift just because we are in troubled times. Let our connection be your comfort, and it will be mine. We will rest tonight in each others' arms and tomorrow, we will continue the search. We won't serve them by remaining sleepless and holding ourselves back. Come to me, Tetsuya. Take what comfort you need and comfort me. We will get through this. And whatever happens, we will bring our loved ones home."

Tetsuya hesitated, then loosed a steadying breath that seemed to carry the tension out of his body again.

"You are right," he said softly, "Thank you, Katsuro."

"You are welcome," said the samurai, his smile returning, "But do not think that I have forgotten about your earlier transgressions. I think you owe me some compensation..."

"You..." Tetsuya began, going speechless as Katsuro's plundering mouth silenced his and the samurai began to undress him, "You're impossible!"

"And you are mine, Tetsuya Norite."

XXXXXXXXXX

"Did you find any sign of them?" Kazuki asked, slipping his slender hands into Akabuke's larger, rougher ones and turning his eyes to the stars above the clearing where they stood.

"Yes, actually," the samurai affirmed.

"Yet you came back."

"Yes."

"That does not bode well," Kazuki said worriedly, "What happened?"

"The demon is crafty," Akabuke explained in a troubled tone, "It has concealed itself in a valley of caves, among its brethren. It protects the cave from the others with a heavy barrier. So, they will not attack Byakuya. But...we do not know what the beast is doing to him."

"We know that he cannot be turned into a demon as well, ne? He has been attacked by a demon before this."

"He has," agreed Akabuke, "However, that opens up another distressing possibility.

Kazuki studied the samurai's worried eyes and caught his breath in distress.

"You think that it will mate with him?"

Akabuke exhaled unhappily.

"It could. And if that happens, then I think Byakuya may be as lost as our grandson is. He had a difficult time bearing Katsumi. Bearing a demon would be the end of him."

"Then, we must find them before it comes to that!" Kazuki said angrily, "Akabuke, you know that we cannot fail them! Not after what they did for us."

"You are right," said the samurai, looking down at his mate's determined face, "Come then. I will show you the valley. We will begin to make our strategy. I only ask that if we are attacked, you let me do the fighting and you return to the palace immediately. You must protect our child."

"I will," said Kazuki in a determined voice, "But I will do so without leaving your side."

"Kuchikis," Akabuke sighed, shaking his head, "So much beauty and so much greater stubbornness!"

"Yes, but we are alive today, thanks to that stubbornness that refused to let us stay dead."

"Touché," Akabuke said in an amused voice, "I cannot argue that."

"No," replied Kazuki, following as he flash stepped into the forest, "You cannot."


End file.
